The University of Texas at Dallas chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine is demanding a student be allowed to attend his own graduation Wednesday.
SJP said in a news release the university denied Belal El Sherif’s request to graduate with everyone else.
Noor Saleh, a member of SJP, called the decision “clear political retaliation” for El Sherif’s opposition to the war in Gaza and UTD’s investments in companies with ties to Israel.
“Them not allowing him to attend his graduation and banning him from campus is because of … how vocal he has been about demanding divestment from the university,” she said.
UTD confirmed Tuesday two unnamed students were banned from campus “because the students interrupted a University commencement ceremony” last Friday.
“Others involved are being identified and may face similar measures,” a spokesperson told KERA in an emailed statement. “Individuals may peaceably assemble and exercise their right to freedom of speech on campus, but they may not disrupt university events.”
El Sherif said he and other students have been targeted specifically for speaking out about the situation in the Middle East.
"What I and my fellow student are facing now is nothing new and part of a broader attempt by university administrations in collaboration w with the Trump administration and previously the Biden administration to suppress voices for Palestine," he said.
Earlier this month New York University withheld a student’s diploma after he used his graduation speech to condemn the “atrocities currently happening in Palestine.”
In the almost two years since a Hamas-led attack on Israel killed an estimated 1,200 people, Israel’s retaliation has killed almost 53,000 people, according to figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry reported by the BBC.
Pro-Palestinian protests at campuses across the U.S. last year sparked contentious debate over free speech rights. At least 20 protesters were arrested for criminal trespass at an encampment at UTD after the university said they blocked pathways.
The school later gave students written warnings instead of harsher proposed discipline, though a Collin County grand jury earlier this year indicted 14 of the protesters on charges of obstruction of a passageway, a Class B misdemeanor.
Bill Zeeble is KERA’s education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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