Since the beginning of the semester, there has been a massive surge in emails pressuring the University of Maryland administration to shut down Students for Justice in Palestine at UMD and cancel our rightful reservations at Mckeldin Mall on October 7th.

The usage of this space by SJP to express solidarity with the Palestinian people as they endure a brutal genocide is fully within our free speech rights as students who stand for truth, equality, and justice. UMD’s administration should not interfere in SJP’s plans at the behest of zionist think tanks and lobbying groups, who with the aid of right-wing media companies, are promulgating dehumanizing and genocidal rhetoric towards Palestinians and Muslims. To call for a cancellation of SJP’s duly submitted reservation of event space as is our right as a recognized student group, a cancellation before any announcement surrounding the nature of our plans, is Islamophobic and racist against Palestinians and Arabs.

On October 7th, the day marking the beginning of an escalated genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people in response to their uprising and resistance against the zionist entity, SJP will be hosting a vigil to bring community together to honor the lives stolen over 76+ years of occupation and genocide. During the day, we will hold a sit-in targeting UMD and US government complicity as well as a rally to express our anger over the bankrolling of this genocide through tax dollars and the USM endowment which invests in bloodthirsty war profiteers.