In an open letter posted on Instagram Dec. 3, Northeastern University School of Law Students for Justice in Palestine condemned what they called the university’s “recent pro-Palestine censorship” and demanded a town hall with School of Law deans. 

The letter follows claims from the organization that the university removed posters hung in Dockser Commons that memorialised Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.

According to the letter, the group’s demands include “an end to the censorship of [student] voices, the production of written policies regarding these issues, the equitable enforcement of these alleged policies and a town hall meeting open for all members of the law school to discuss these issues.” 

In the caption of the post, the group, also known as NUSLSJP, said its demands have so far gone unanswered. 

“We once again call upon the school to meet with the student body, rather than merely censor us and hide in their offices,” the post reads. 

The letter, signed by 22 student organizations and more than 80 individual graduate and undergraduate students, according to NUSLSJP’s post, detailed multiple instances of the university taking down displays put up by NUSLSJP. Specifically, the letter alleged that the administration “were comfortable taking down the names of dead Palestinian children” and other displays because they violated “university policy.”

“Northeastern’s policies apply to all students, faculty and staff and are uniformly enforced across the university,” said Vice President for Communications Renata Nyul in response to questions about university policy surrounding taking down the kites. Nyul specified that student organizations are required to seek permission before putting up flyers in designated locations.

“Posted materials that do not comply with Northeastern policies are promptly removed by the university,” she wrote.

NUSLSJP did not respond to a request for an interview.  

The letter comes as the university implemented several new demonstration policies fall 2024 following a year of pro-Palestine protests on Northeastern’s Boston campus. Among the new policies added to the Code of Student Conduct is the prohibition of demonstrations that involve the erection of structures or the affixing of images on university property, The News previously reported.

According to the letter, in early November, NUSLSJP displayed kites on the wooden slats in Dockser Commons that were created as part of an art project to commemorate “Palestinian children and their families martyred by Israel.” 

On Nov. 12, Associate Dean for Equity Kiana-Pierre Louis asked the group to remove the more than 100 kites from where they were hung with tape on wooden slats in Dockser Commons, according to the Instagram post. 

According to the letter, Louis told NUSLSJP the kites must be removed because the tape used to display them could “potentially damage the wooden slats.” Louis reportedly warned NUSLSJP that if they did not remove the kites, they would be taken down by facilities. 

The letter states that the kites had been removed from Dockser Commons and discarded Nov. 18. However, according to the letter, “other taped-up papers were left up.”

Later that evening, NUSLSJP used string to hang a banner in Dockser Commons that included “love letters from NUSL students recommitting their support and dedication to Palestine,” according to the post. The banner was hung next to a Pride flag and a Black Lives Matter flag the university told NUSLSJP had been left alone because they were hung with string instead of tape.

The next day, Nov. 19, the group’s banner had reportedly been removed, with no explanation from administration. 

“When a student asked the custodian what happened to our banner, he told us to talk to the Dean’s office, implying that it was the NUSL administration’s directive to remove the banner,” the letter reads.

Louis later met with NUSLSJP and told the group the Pride and Black Lives Matter flags were “grandfathered in to recognize previous student activism.” She said the NUSLSJP banner was likely removed by facilities for violating university policy, according to the post.

The flags have since been removed by the Queer Caucus and Black Law Students Association “in solidarity” with NUSLSJP, according to the letter, which accuses the university of using “[Queer Caucus] and [Black Law Students Association’s] banners as a way to virtue signal and advertise to incoming students our schools alleged ‘public interest’ focus, while simultaneously stifling student voice and concern regarding the ongoing genocide in Gaza and apartheid across Israel.”

“We collectively agree that the law school cannot selectively choose which social justice values are allowed on campus,” NUSLSJP wrote in the letter. “Our administration is practicing performative social justice, and this is not new.”

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war Oct. 7, 2023, NUSLSJP has criticized the administration’s response to the conflict several times. In October, the organization participated in a “Week of Rage,” organized by National Students for Justice in Palestine, that took place on college campuses across the U.S. to mark the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks. The group hosted daily events, including a solidarity walk out Oct. 10. 

The group also joined forces with Huskies for a Free Palestine, an unofficial group led by Northeastern undergraduates, Oct. 9 for a rally that protested Northeastern’s career fair featuring weapons manufacturers that supply military equipment to Israel. In April, pro-Palestine protesters set up an encampment on Centennial Common that led to the arrest of almost 100 students. 

“Liberation and justice are interconnected: this issue impacts all of us,” the group said in its letter. “We hope the administration can take this chance to start practicing the social justice values sold to us upon enrollment.”