SJP's Latest Pro-Palestine Demonstration Plans Revealed in University of Chicago Leaked Group Chat
The conservative student newspaper, The Chicago Thinker, has leaked chat messages from the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group at the University of Chicago, detailing plans to emulate the protests at Columbia University and take over the university's Main Quad, intending to camp out for an extended period. The protests are planned for May 1, May Day. The messages also show communication with the National Students for Justice in Palestine organization, which offers media support and shares experiences from the Columbia protests. The plan is to occupy campus buildings, get arrested for trespassing, and draw attention to their cause. The messages reveal that the protest is organized by the national SJP organization, with assistance from the Palestinian Youth Movement.
The students are encouraged to replicate the events at California State Polytechnic University, where students barricaded themselves in a university building and police have not been able to remove them. The university has been temporarily closed. The SJP UChicago group chat advises students to occupy buildings to be more effective, as they will have more materials to use as barriers and can fray the police across the building and its entrances. They also suggest that it will be more comfortable for the campers as they will have access to shelter, bathrooms, and water. The students are encouraged to come prepared with goggles and gas masks.
The University of Chicago has previously published a statement emphasizing the right to protest while also emphasizing that demonstrations cannot jeopardize safety or disrupt the university's operations and the ability of people to carry out their work. Multi-day building occupations violate this policy and present a significant threat to all students on campus. The Thinker's leak may deprive them of the discretion they desire, and someone may be banging their head on the fifth-floor cubicle. The information revealed may be erroneous, but it predicts that SJP is planning something big.
The article concludes by questioning who is funding the group and wondering whether the university administration will allow the protest to occur and whether they will impose any consequences. The author suggests that the administration should levy meaningful punishments on those who endanger free speech and academic access and warns that the entire academic community will be watching.