A federal judge ordered on Tuesday that this university must allow Students for Justice in Palestine to hold its Oct. 7 event on McKeldin Mall, overturning this university’s ban on all student-organized expressive events for that date.

SJP reserved McKeldin Mall, a large campus outdoor plaza, for the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led massacre in Israel.

On Sept. 1, this university revoked their Oct. 7 reservation, and all other student-organized expressive events for that day.

“The purpose of their event was to host a vigil to commemorate Palestinian lives lost since the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and to provide a space for their community to process their emotions and grieve together,” SJP’s lawyers said.

Judge Peter Messitte overturned this university’s ban because SJP was able to demonstrate that it could succeed in its freedom of speech claim.

“The Court further finds [that SJP] will suffer irreparable harm in the form of deprivation of its right to freedom of speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution,” Messitte said.

On Sept. 17, SJP sued this university, as well as the University System of Maryland and University President Darryll Pines, for forcing SJP to reschedule their Oct. 7, 2024 event. 

The next day, SJP asked the judge to end this university’s “free expression blackout date” on Oct. 7, 2024 and alleged that “campus officials lost sight of the First Amendment.”

The Jewish community at this university was distraught to learn that SJP planned an event for the anniversary of an attack on Israel.

In a statement uploaded to Instagram, Maryland Hillel expressed it was “deeply disappointed” that SJP was granted permission move forward with its Oct. 7 event.

“Our student leaders are finalizing plans to organize education and awareness events on campus during the day including setting up a hostage square, tabling opportunities and other pro-Israel messaging events,” said the Maryland Hillel.

Jewish students will gather at the Maryland Hillel Center at 8 p.m. to mark the solemn anniversary, the post continued.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas gunmen stormed across Gaza’s border into Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 250 others to Gaza as hostages. Hamas also targeted a music festival in the south of Israel, killing 364 attendees, the BBC reported. 

Israel immediately responded to the attack with airstrikes on targets in Gaza and launched a ground invasion in Gaza three weeks later with the aim of the “destruction of Hamas and the return of the hostages,” the BBC reported.

Pines announced that the university “concluded to host only university-sponsored events that promote reflection on [Oct. 7]” out of an abundance of caution following a safety assessment. 

“Numerous calls have been made to cancel and restrict the events that take place that day. The language has been charged and the rhetoric intense,” Pines said in an email to the campus community on Sept. 1.

SJP argued that the decision to host only university-sponsored events violated its First Amendment rights. 

“This so-called ‘Day of Dialogue,’ during which only speakers who agree to convey the government’s message will be permitted to speak, is the government’s obvious effort to monopolize the conversation on Oct. 7th,” SJP’s lawyers said. 

The attorney general for Maryland, Anthony Brown, whose office is representing this university, argued that the decision to “host only university-sponsored events” was due to safety concerns. 

“In late August, the university received credible threats of violence connected to a planned SJP event on Oct. 7, 2024,” the attorney general said.

The judge also mentioned that this university has the right to enhance security for the now-allowed Oct. 7, 2024 event. 

“[This university has the right] to inquire of participants to identify themselves; to administer appropriate crowd-control measures and, in appropriate circumstances, to oust any individual from campus who is not in compliance with such reasonable crowd-control measures. [This university] shall have the right to issue otherwise lawful crowd-dispersal orders,” Messitte said.