Duke University has restored its Students for Justice in Palestine chapter to full status after suspending the group and freezing its funding over an antisemitic social media post shared last month.
The university’s Office of Institutional Equity determined that the March 13 post, which included a graphic originally published in the Black Panther Party’s newspaper in 1970, depicting two pigs—one labeled “U.S. imperialism,” holding the Statue of Liberty’s torch, and another labeled “Zionism,” holding a Star of David—did not violate university policy, according to The Duke Chronicle, a student publication.
“The post, while offensive, in that it alludes to antisemitic tropes, does not violate the Policy on Prohibited Discrimination, Harassment and Related Misconduct because there was insufficient information to support the existence of a hostile educational environment,” Sharon Gooding, associate vice president for institutional equity, wrote on April 23.
Student Affairs subsequently lifted the suspension and funding freeze but required that the post remain permanently removed.
Jessie Appleby, an attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told JNS that the organization is “pleased that Duke reinstated SJP, but the group never should have been suspended over the cartoon in the first place.”
“The investigation into SJP will have ripple effects,” she said. “Students might fear speaking up, given that Duke has shown willingness to investigate and punish unpopular speech.”
SJP said in a statement to the student newspaper that the suspension reflected a broader pattern of “silencing, sidelining and suppressing its own students.”
Ben Adams, senior associate dean of students for QuadEX, which supports student life at Duke, said these restrictions are standard when Student Affairs is conducting a review of a complaint.
