CAIR Designates Johns Hopkins University (JHU) as a Hostile Campus
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, designated Johns Hopkins University (JHU) as a Hostile Campus due to the threat to the safety of students who stand against occupation, apartheid, and genocide. While claiming to be committed to free expression and inclusive dialogue, the university has instead responded to peaceful demonstrations with violent repression, administrative retaliation, and collaboration with state and federal authorities that disproportionately target Muslim and Arab students. JHU received a failing score of 48.3 out of 100 in the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings, revealing widespread concerns about its suppression of dissent and disregard for academic freedom.
The university leadership’s actions starkly contradict its stated values and have not gone unnoticed. On May 2, 2024, the President of JHU, Ronald Daniels, wrote to the JHU community that he was “committed to maintaining a campus environment that values free speech, but also where everyone feels safe and welcome.” In that same message, President Daniels described student protestors as “intimidating” and suggested they “jeopardize the free exchange of ideas.” These deeply inflammatory remarks not only vilify peaceful protesters but also echo Islamophobic and anti-Arab tropes that associate Muslim and allied student dissent with danger and disruption. This rhetoric effectively frames anti-genocide advocacy as a threat, rather than a valid expression of conscience and political engagement.
The university’s hostility toward anti-genocide advocacy is part of a broader pattern. Even though anti-genocide students stated clear demands for full financial transparency, disclosure of university investments, and complete divestment from weapons manufacturers and companies complicit in Israeli apartheid and genocide in Gaza, the Public Interest Investment Advisory Committee (PIIAC) at JHU, whose members were allegedly handpicked by administration, unanimously voted against those demands in January 2025. Instead of committing to divestment or disclosing specific financial ties, the committee offered vague recommendations, such as “ongoing dialogue” and limited ethical review processes. This refusal to consider student protestors’ demands in good faith further demonstrates the administration’s unwillingness to confront the university’s complicity or engage seriously with anti-genocide advocacy.
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) at JHU wrote to President Daniels and the trustees, urging them to uphold academic freedom and to allow peaceful protests and non-disruptive encampments. The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) reportedly recognized that the student protests in the spring of 2024 at Johns Hopkins presented no “credible threat of violence” and involved no defamation or property damage. Undeterred, the university administration reportedly issued alarming warnings of disciplinary action for “trespassing” on campus to student protestors. These threats exemplify the university’s punitive approach to peaceful dissent, emphasizing its hostility towards students advocating against genocide and for Palestinian human rights.
In 2024, nearly 100 civil rights complaints were reportedly filed with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) from JHU, leading to a federal investigation into shared ancestry discrimination, including anti-Arab and anti-Muslim harassment. In one instance, the investigation allegedly found that a professor wrote to students, “Those brutal Arabs will, God willing, pay a price like never before.” Although the university officials spoke with the professor, the university reportedly didn’t determine whether the professor’s comments impacted students’ ability to access their education. The OCR apparently identified serious concerns that the university either misapplied the legal standards or showed inconsistency in assessing the incidents it reviewed.
Although JHU signed a resolution agreement with OCR in 2025 promising reforms, the university was ineffective in preventing further harm to student protestors. In April, JHU reportedly failed to publicly defend more than a dozen of its graduate students and alumni whose visas were revoked by ICE, leaving many fearing political retaliation for anti-genocide advocacy. The university’s reported claim that there was “no indication” connecting free speech activities to the revocations is highly questionable, as there was no public condemnation. This silence unequivocally stifles student dissent and raises critical concerns about the university’s commitment to upholding an open and free exchange of ideas.
On May 8, 2025, students at JHU reportedly established an encampment on Keyser Quad, named the “Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya Liberated Zone,” to protest the university’s alleged investment in the genocide of Gaza. JHU administration’s complicity in militarized violence extends beyond rhetoric—it is institutional and material. In 2022, the university’s Applied Physics Laboratory was awarded a $12.4 billion deal with the U.S. Department of Defense for advanced weapons systems, missile defense, space operations, and nuclear capabilities. These technologies underpin U.S. military actions that enable Israeli apartheid and the mass killing of civilians in Gaza. Student protestors have called for full divestment and transparency regarding JHU’s defense ties, yet the university continues to profit from war-making while cracking down on those who oppose it.
Within an hour of the encampment’s establishment, demonstrators were reportedly met with forceful actions by armed officers from the Johns Hopkins Police Department (JHPD) and the BPD. Reportedly, during the police crackdown on the peaceful encampment, two students were physically injured by officers while asserting their right to protest. One student was reportedly struck as police dismantled the tents and canopies overhead; another suffered injuries while attempting to shield fellow protestors from forceful dispersal. Eyewitnesses reported that the officers were aggressive, hostile, and indifferent to the nonviolent nature of the demonstration. This violent response violated both the students’ right to peaceful assembly and the university’s own stated policy of protest de-escalation. These actions underscore the university’s utter disregard for student safety and its willingness to use violence to silence anti-genocide advocacy.
Later that day, according to students, including Palestinian, Lebanese, and visibly Muslim students, having a picnic on the quad were surrounded and threatened by administration and JHPD allegedly for wearing Keffiyehs, and teaching each other Dabke, a traditional Palestinian and Lebanese folk dance. Students report that JHU administrators informed these students that their picnic was considered a “second attempted occupation”, a claim that was repeated in a university-wide email sent by administration and ordered them off campus under threat of identification for violation of university policies. The students were unaffiliated with any organization and believed they were targeted for their national origin, religion, clothing, and cultural expression. Meanwhile, the university has as of yet refused to approve students’ request to register a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at JHU, ensuring there is no dedicated space for the practice and expression of Palestinian culture on campus.
JHU cannot claim to uphold free speech and inclusion while responding to anti-genocide advocacy with violence, administrative retaliation, and complicity in federal repression. Until the university shows a genuine commitment to the rights and safety of all who come to learn on its campus, including those who challenge apartheid and genocide, it must be held accountable. Johns Hopkins is not a safe or welcoming environment for anti-genocide voices. CAIR designates Johns Hopkins University as a Hostile Campus.
