In May, amid pro-Palestinian protests on the University of Vermont’s campus, university administrators suspended a student activist group on what was supposed to be a temporary basis.

Four months later, the temporary suspension of the group, UVM’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, has yet to be lifted. On Monday, the organization filed a federal lawsuit against the university, alleging that its suspension was unconstitutional and motivated by bias against pro-Palestinian voices.

“We’re definitely living in a climate where advocacy for Palestine and criticism of Israel are both considered impermissible,” Helen Scott, the faculty advisor for UVM Students for Justice in Palestine, said in an interview. “It’s a fundamental violation of free speech around one issue.”

John Franco, an attorney for Students for Justice in Palestine, filed a complaint and a motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to lift the suspension in U.S. District Court in Burlington Monday. The suit names the university, along with Lina Balcom, UVM director of student life, and Jerome Budomo, the associate director of student life, as defendants.

“In a word, as a state instrumentality, the defendants have invoked state power to muzzle UVMSJP, to delegitimize it, and to give anyone else second thoughts about associating with it,” the motion reads.

Adam White, a spokesperson for UVM, said that the university could not comment on pending litigation but confirmed that the group was suspended. White did not respond to emailed questions about that suspension.

“UVM values free expression as a vital component in our campus community, provided it is practiced in compliance with university policies,” he said in an email. “The student conduct process is confidential.”

On the night of April 28, UVM students set up an encampment at the Burlington campus’ Andrew Harris Commons, joining a nationwide surge of protest over the war in Gaza. That protest was spearheaded by UVM’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a national pro-Palestinian group. 

Just days later, according to the lawsuit, UVM issued a temporary suspension against the group.

The university “has received information about alleged conduct by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) that, if true, would violate University policies,” reads a May 1 letter to the group from Dean of Students David Nestor, filed along with the lawsuit.

Those violations allegedly included using the campus green without permission, setting up temporary structures without a permit and encouraging other students to also violate policies, according to Nestor’s letter.

“The University of Vermont is suspending all operations of SJP on an interim basis, effective immediately,” the letter reads, adding that the group’s “actions have had a direct impact on the safety of students and university operations.” 

In a Tuesday press release, Students for Justice in Palestine said that the group “has disputed these charges, and the University of Vermont has failed to provide evidence that UVMSJP engaged in any actions that are not protected by the first amendment.”

According to the complaint, there is no recent precedent at UVM for the suspension of a student group, despite a long history of protest for various causes. The complaint also notes that, last October, UVM revoked permission for a campus lecture by Palestinian poet and journalist Mohammed El-Kurd, citing safety concerns.

“The defendants’ actions against UVMSJP have been part of its hostile, chilling content-based animus and bias against pro-Palestinian speakers,” the complaint reads.

The student group’s interim suspension has now lasted four months, according to the lawsuit. Last month, Franco made multiple offers to meet with UVM administrators to discuss the suspension, according to the suit.

UVM rejected those requests, according to the complaint. Instead, the suit says, the university’s general counsel gave the group two options for how to proceed. 

One of those options was an “administrative conference” — a meeting in which the group would be expected to effectively admit guilt by signing a waiver admitting to the alleged violations. 

The second option was an investigation into the group by the university. In that process, according to the lawsuit, university policies would not have permitted SJP to have access to a lawyer.

Student groups being investigated by UVM for policy violations have access to an advisor, according to university policies, but those advisors “may not be lawyers” and “may not speak on behalf of, or otherwise represent their advisees,” unless criminal charges were involved.

Those policies, the lawsuit claims, are a violation of the constitutional right to due process and equal protection.

The legal action comes just weeks before UVM president Suresh Garimella is scheduled to leave Vermont to become the president of the University of Arizona. 

The lawsuit asks the court to reinstate SJP as a student group and to declare that UVM violated the group’s members’ constitutional rights to free speech and due process. 

UVM’s policies are “just a due process disaster,” Franco, the attorney for SJP, said in an interview. 

“The way the (university’s) procedure works is it says, well, if we have reason to believe that you’re bad people, we’ll suspend your rights, and then we’ll have an investigation,” Franco said. “It’s Alice in Wonderland. You get the sentence first and then the verdict later.”