On April 23, Yale University banned its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, Yalies4Palestine, alleging that the group was involved in organizing a protest.

We write on behalf of concerned faculty and staff who attended the April 22 protest and who are committed to protecting freedom of expression. What witnesses, including Professor LaFleur, saw speaks to a dangerous double standard: a peaceful protest met with disciplinary action while counter-protesters — present at the same time and in the same place, expressing themselves in a no less public manner — face no response from Yale’s administration. This, emphatically, is viewpoint discrimination and a violation of the principles of free and engaged civic discourse on which university life depends. We call on the university to immediately reinstate Yalies4Palestine, drop disciplinary proceedings against students and publicly reaffirm its commitment to freedom of expression — especially when that speech challenges power.

On the one-year anniversary of the Yale encampments, an autonomous group of students organized a protest for the people of Palestine. Those present watched as students sang, chanted, stood quietly with linked arms and sat next to their tents. They also witnessed a handful of pro-Israel counter-protesters who shouted at the protesting students, filmed them by holding phones inches from their faces and made their way into the midst of the shared space. Professor LaFleur and others witnessed a counter-protester making what appeared to them to be non-consensual physical contact with protestors. At least one administrator was present and must have seen what can also be seen on videos taken that night: provocation on the part of counter-protestors and consistent refusals to rise to these provocations on the part of students protesting for justice in Palestine, who later dispersed peacefully.

Yet the University has now banned Yalies4Palestine and begun disciplinary proceedings against justice for Palestine students, a move that raises concerns about discriminatory profiling. No such condemnation has been issued to counter-protesters who were, after all, also demonstrating. To be clear: we oppose punitive action by Yale University for expressions of speech, but we would be remiss not to note the ongoing disciplinary double standard.

This is a sharp escalation in the weaponization of university policies targeting groups based on content of speech and expression. The selective harassment of Palestine-focused student groups and persons has become a troubling trend at Yale and elsewhere and raises questions about Yale’s lack of interest in addressing the rise in Islamophobia on university campuses.

This double standard is even more concerning because the safety of students is at stake: a far-right organization, Canary Mission, known for doxxing protesters, has been using footage filmed at Yale — including at university-approved public gatherings–to target individuals for harassment. Additionally, names of students alleged to have been there were shared online. Yale has not indicated they are taking steps to investigate how students are being targeted or to protect students from such harassment.

Punishing students for peaceful protests is against university values and interests; it also inflicts a moral injury on those prevented from speaking out against grave injustices. This most recent protest came one day before the visit of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — a man convicted of inciting racism and supporting mass killing. Ben-Gvir has publicly idolized Baruch Goldstein — the Israeli who massacred 29 Palestinians in 1994. Just this week, Ben Gvir called for bombing food and aid depots in Gaza, promoting the collective punishment of starving civilians. In other words, Yale has chosen to punish students for peacefully opposing a public official who advocates mass killing. It’s a chilling inversion: protesting genocide is treated as more offensive than participating in one.

Yale’s actions align with a national campaign of repression. Under pressure from the Trump administration and far-right lobbying groups, universities are punishing students, cynically redefining anti-Semitism to silence criticism of Israeli policy and targeting scholars for imagined infractions. But Yale students, faculty and staff are fighting back. Over 1,000 faculty signed a letter to the administration demanding protections for speech and academic freedom. Students have echoed these demands and called for a university-wide anti-doxxing policy. The administration has yet to respond.

We write this not only in defense of our students, but in solidarity with the people of Gaza. When our students chant “Free Palestine,” they are insisting on an essential truth: every mangled child, every person consumed in flames, every dust-covered face — they were a whole world. To themselves and everyone they knew. Lives as complex, joyful and difficult as our own. We call on administrators, on the Yale community: Don’t look away. Don’t tell our anguished students to keep silent. Every voice of courage and morality matters. 

GRETA LAFLEUR is an associate professor of American Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. She can be reached at greta.lafleur@yale.edu.

CATHERINE NICHOLSON is a professor of English. She can be reached at catherine.nicholson@yale.edu.