4 Pro-Palestine students at UPenn face suspensions, activist group says
PHILADELPHIA - Four University of Pennsylvania students have been notified by the school’s disciplinary office that they will be suspended due to their involvement in pro-Palestine actions on campus, according to the activist group, Freedom School For Palestine.
The group says for months the university has been trying to silence their protests targeting discipline against Pro-Palestine students.
They say the alleged students were placed on semester-long or year-long suspensions for their involvement in pro-Palestine activism on campus.
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Some students were previously placed on a "mandatory leave of absence", which is different from a suspension.
The Freedom School For Palestine released the following statement in part: "These students have been robbed of their access to education, income, work-study jobs, and health insurance as a result of this suspension. After Penn sent their own police force to beat, tase, and jail their students, they have chosen to compound this harm with a new wave of draconian repression. It is clear that these disciplinary measures, while done under the guise of "campus safety" and arbitrary delineations between "acceptable" and "unacceptable" protests, only serve to stifle speech and action which threaten Penn’s interests.
FOX 29 has reached out to UPenn for comment, but have not heard back.