SSSP Statement on Campus Protests
The Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) condemns the actions taken by police agents and university leaders in response to pro-Palestinian campus protests around the country. We unequivocally support academic freedom, free speech, and the right to peaceful protest. This year, SSSP members voted to approve a statement calling for an end to the violence -- a statement which objected to "the many forms of structural and everyday violence imposed by the Israeli government on the Palestinian population." We continue to support academic communities in exercising the democratic principle of academic freedom and the Constitutional right to peacefully assemble. We call on academic leaders to refrain from interfering with the rights of students, staff, and faculty as they join in protest with thousands of people around the world calling for a free Palestine. We especially urge these leaders to disavow punitive measures taken against students exercising their rights to assemble, including pressing criminal charges and threatening housing security, course enrollment and graduation, financial aid and scholarship opportunities, suspension, and expulsion. We denounce the excessive and violent reactions exhibited by police interference against protesters, including the use of chemical sprays, rubber bullets, tasing, excessive force, and threats to call in the National Guard. We honor the traditions of university campuses as places where critical engagement and political protest can thrive in resistance to oppressive policies and practices.