University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee Suspends SJP, MSA and 3 Other Student Groups

Hat tip Campus Reform

Slowly, our universities are starting to wake up and realize that anti-Israel student groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) are a toxic presence on their campuses. Campus Reform is reporting that the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee (UW-M) has suspended SJP, the Muslim Student Association (MSA), and 3 other groups. These groups have been putting out missives on campus that imply a physical threat to Hillel and other Jewish/pro-Israel groups on campus. Such messages should not be tolerated. You can read the Campus Reform report here.

I note with interest that the campus Muslim Student Association (MSA) has also been suspended. I cannot speak for every campus in the country, but my own observations while I was teaching at UC Irvine is that SJP seems to have become the more activist "arm" of the Muslim Student Union (as it is called at UC Irvine). In 2010, when 11 members of the Muslim Student Union of UCI and UC Riverside disrupted the speech of the Israeli ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, once the MSU was suspended, an SJP chapter was formed on campus. My impression is that SJP has taken over the forefront of anti-Israel-anti-Jewish activism at UC Irvine and other campuses. In fact, many SJP members are also MSA members (SJP is not exclusively Muslim in membership and even includes some misguided Jews who are anti-Israel.) Again, I cannot speak with authority as to every campus (there are SJP chapters on about 150 campuses nationwide), but it appears that more and more pro-Palestinian campus disruptions are now conducted under the banner of SJP as opposed to MSA. While many MSA members are also active with SJP, I suspect that not all MSA members on any campus are involved in anti-Israel activism. There are many valid reasons a Muslim student might choose to join an MSA chapter. In the case of UW-M, it would appear that the MSA has been actively involved in activities described in the above-linked article.

At any rate, I applaud the suspension of these groups. In the case of SJP, especially, this organization should be permanently banned from every campus in the country. They conduct themselves like bullies and hooligans, using tactics of bullying and disruption to make their point. The fact that they include a few misguided Jews does not make them any less anti-Semitic in my opinion.