In late 2024, UChicago’s president, Paul Alivisatos, affirmed: “The ability to speak freely across difference is more important than ever. At the University of Chicago, your voice is protected.” Yet, for over a year, Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, and other students, staff, and faculty at UChicago reportedly faced frequent discrimination, including slurs and threats, while white and Jewish students received comparatively respectful treatment. Administrators repeatedly failed and refused to quell targeted harassment and doxing toward anti-genocide voices. Instead, they arrested student protestors and used police force to remove their encampment, making them feel marginalized. Over 275 faculty members at UChicago wrote an open letter to President Alivisatos objecting to calling the police raid on protestors, stating, “In choosing this course of action, the administration has elected to abandon its own principles of neutrality and the protection of free speech.” Palestine Legal and UChicago United for Palestine (UCUP) filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
Since October 16, 2023, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and allies have been gathering in the UChicago’s Main Quad to protest Israel’s ongoing genocide on Gaza. During a November 2023 sit-in, students and faculty were arrested for speaking against apartheid. Although the charges were dropped later, students faced disciplinary hearings for violating policies regarding “amplified sound, chanting and not leaving when directed to, and gathering on the quad after allotted hours,” which they report have not “typically been enforced against other student groups.” On May 7, 2024, the university called the police to raid an encampment of sleeping Palestinian and allied students, faculty, and staff. Police threw wood planks, metal chairs, fencing, and art and ripped the tents from the ground. A few students were attacked, and one went to the hospital for treatment of back pain. The administration allegedly gave a warning that those “who did not leave would be subject to arrest, involuntary leave of absence, and referral to the University’s disciplinary processes.” However, this warning was given hours after the raid.
UChicago administrators fail to act against targeted harassment towards Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab students:
- UCPD allegedly racially profiles and surveils Palestinians, Muslims, and students wearing keffiyeh, including a hijab-wearing student during graduation.
- On Monday, October 16, 2023, when Israel had killed over 2,750 Palestinians in Gaza, Dean Thomas Miles, Dean and Clifton R. Musser Professor of Law and Economics, reportedly sent an email that did not name “Palestine,” “Palestinians,” “Gaza,” or the “West Bank;” yet it named “Israel.”
- At an October 20, 2023 rally, a student of color advocating for Palestine was allegedly targeted and discriminated against when two individuals shouted, “Stop shooting rockets at us,” and “Stop flying planes into our buildings.”
- In February, a federal marshal assaulted a law student for wearing a keffiyeh, for which the UChicago law school reportedly targeted the student in the aftermath.
- In late April 2024, a pro-genocide student reportedly weaponized a foul-smelling “non-toxic stink bomb” against a Palestine solidarity encampment for which the university administration refused to initiate disciplinary action.
- A student reportedly verbally attacked Muslims advocating against the genocide of Palestinians, including those wearing hijabs, calling them terrorists. Many students refrained from reporting the incident due to fears of university surveillance and perceived discriminatory treatment from administrators, reflecting the uncomfortable environment for reporting discrimination.
- At an October 19 rally, Rabbi Brackman, Director of Rohr Chabad at UChicago, who purports, “Our goal is to create a place where all students can feel at home,” reportedly accused Palestine protesters of antisemitism. After a student shared his remarks online, UChicago pursued a disciplinary investigation against the student instead of addressing the rabbi’s comments.
- On October 27, a male student apparently shouted at a group of women at the table, most of whom were Muslim, Arab, Black, or Brown, including a student in a hijab, “None of you girls would be standing here if you were in Gaza because you’d have no rights.”
UChicago administrators refuse to protect students from doxing:
- An anti-genocide Jewish student wearing a keffiyeh walked up to the Deans-On-Call and informed them that there was a reputed neo-Nazi (Braden Hill) on campus. Hill allegedly tried to dox protestors and antagonize people by attempting to disturb prayer and film the faces of participants. When a student told administrators she felt unsafe, they replied, “Later.”
- A student told Dean Vasquez, Associate Dean and Director of Students at the UChicago for Student Affairs, about the threat posed by neo-Nazi Hill and his attempts to dox students and asked her to intervene. She reportedly told this student there was nothing she could do because the students at the encampment had chosen to be in a “public space.”
- Hill was allegedly allowed to roam free to dox students and professors on campus while Deans-on-Call and UCPD invested their time and efforts protecting pro-genocide individuals.
- Rabbi Brackman urged police to arrest student protestors during the encampment when students were using keffiyehs to block doxers who were attempting to photograph Muslim students during prayer. Brackman reportedly submitted an offensive and discredited statement regarding the Jewish students who participated in the encampment, saying: “Movements have always had a token minority; this is no different. For example, there were some Black slave owners and Black people who fought for the Confederacy.”
- Administrators required Palestinian students to jeopardize their safety by placing their contact information on fliers for a vigil for Palestinians killed in Gaza, even though the policy was never previously enforced.
UChicago administration marginalizes students advocating for Palestinian rights:
Disciplinary proceedings were selectively utilized against Palestinian students, allies, and vocal Palestinian-led organizations, including SJP, on campus. For instance, despite SJP’s flyers adhering to university posting policies, they are repeatedly torn down to silence Palestinian advocates, with the UChicago administration ignoring evidence-backed reports and failing to uphold free speech or hold violators accountable.
President Alivisatos not only hosted an Israeli Consul General to discuss ways of “further enhanc[ing]” partnerships between the University of Chicago and Israeli institutions, but he also reportedly refused to name Palestine or Palestinians in agreements on any terms, choosing to suspend negotiations with pro-Palestine students instead.
President Alivisatos allegedly attended a vigil for October 7th held by supporters of Israel and did not attend a vigil or memorial for Palestinians.
