Palestinian rights advocates celebrated Tuesday after the New York state Supreme Court ruled in favor of five Fordham University students who sought to start a Students for Justice in Palestine, or SJP, club but were blocked by the school. The judge in the case found that Fordham’s dean of student life’s rejection of the club was “arbitrary and capricious,” and highlighted that SJP promotes “only legal, nonviolent tactics aimed at changing Israel’s policies.”
Sapphira Lurie, who graduated from Fordham in 2017 — the same year the suit was filed — said, “Rather than allow Fordham’s administration to impose its backwards and imperialist politics on us, we were victorious in the fight for students’ rights to organize for justice for Palestine. This victory shows that when we fight back, we can win. Free Palestine!”