UCLA Suspends Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Groups for Alleged Misconduct Against UC Regent

From a message just circulated by the UCLA Chancellor:

Dear Bruin Community:

At UCLA, there is always room for discourse and for passionate debate of different points of view. In fact, they are vital to institutions of higher learning. Discourse helps us question our ideas and see new perspectives, and it ultimately leads to growth. Rigorous, healthy dialogue is central to everything we do to advance knowledge.

What there should never be room for is violence.

No one should ever fear for their safety. Without the basic feeling of safety, humans cannot learn, teach, work and live — much less thrive and flourish. This is true no matter what group you are a member of — or which identities you hold. There is no place for violence in our Bruin community.

That is why I am personally letting you know that the UCLA Office of Student Conduct has issued an interim suspension today to two registered student organizations, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine (GSJP), based on its review of initial reports about the groups’ involvement in an incident last week at the home of UC Regent Jay Sures.

As has been reported publicly, both in the press and in social media posts by the groups themselves:

• On February 5, 2025, individuals affiliated with the student groups harassed Mr. Sures and members of his family outside his home.
• Individuals surrounded the vehicle of a Sures family member and prevented that family member’s free movement.
• Individuals pounded on drums, chanting and holding signs with threatening messages such as “Jonathan Sures you will pay, until you see your final day.”
• Individuals vandalized the Sures home by applying red-colored handprints to the outer walls of the home and hung banners on the property’s hedges.

The Office of Student Conduct is undertaking the standard process for addressing potential violations of UCLA’s student group conduct code. It is conducting an administrative review, and this suspension will remain in effect during the review. If these reports prove true as part of this review, disciplinary action may be taken.

Any act of violence undermines the foundation of our university. As a citizen of the world, I know that no one can promise a society free of violence. But as your chancellor, I can commit to you that whenever an act of violence is directed against any member of the university community, UCLA will not turn a blind eye. This is a responsibility I take most seriously.

I’d like to know more about what exactly constitutes the “harass[ment],” which in this context is pretty vague. I’d also like to know the context behind the “you will pay” message (since in some contexts this might be a threat of professional or political retaliation and in others it might be a threat of illegal conduct).

But certainly students should indeed be punished for blocking people in their cars or vandalizing their homes. The e-mail doesn’t mention investigation of any students who were involved, but I hope they too would be punished to the extent they participated in the forbidden conduct (or conspired to do so). And when this sort of action is part of an officially organized student group event, the group can also itself be suspended for it.

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