Pro-Palestinian student group at Chapman University stripped of MLK award

A pro-Palestinian student group that organized a Gaza solidarity encampment at Chapman University last year faced criticism from administration after being honored with an award.

Chapman University President Daniele Struppa took the rare step of sending a campus-wide email the day after Students for Justice in Palestine was recognized during the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Awards on Jan. 21.

“There is a significant distinction between fostering free speech and bestowing an award,” he wrote. “I want to make it crystal clear that the award does not represent the official position of Chapman University.”

Struppa ended his email with an apology to Jewish students and all offended by Students for Justice in Palestine’s award, which has since been rescinded.

“We’re not surprised [Struppa] sent out a statement, but there definitely was some disappointment and anger,” Myth Moos, co-president of Chapman’s Students for Justice in Palestine, told TimesOC. “It was a gross overreach of power as a president and goes against his role of creating a safe space for students.”

Coming after a wave of pro-Palestinian student activism gripped college campuses across the nation — sometimes taking the form of encampments — the row shows that rifts in the wake of the Israel-Gaza war still run raw as a fragile ceasefire holds.

The MLK awards event, which was hosted by Chapman’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, honored faculty, staff and student organizations “making strides in the area of diversity, social justice and community empowerment.”

After a nomination and review process, Students for Justice in Palestine shared the campus group award with the South Asian Student Assn.

But following Struppa’s public criticism, Students for Justice in Palestine was stripped of the honor.

Both the president’s email and the award’s revocation found favor with the Anti-Defamation League.

As soon as the group’s local chapter found out about the award, it reached out privately to Chapman’s leadership to weigh in.

The ADL scheduled a meeting with Chapman’s DEI’s office on Jan. 22 when they were informed that the award had already been rescinded.

“Chapman’s leadership did the right thing in disavowing and rescinding this award, but it is outrageous that this happened in the first place,” said Matthew Friedman, the ADL’s regional director in Orange County and Long Beach, in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

Students for Justice in Palestine at Chapman University was publicly criticized by the university’s president on Jan. 22.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

The controversy served as somewhat of a referendum on King’s legacy, with Struppa seeing the student group’s campus activism as “incompatible” with it. The ADL echoed Struppa’s sentiment in support.

But for Moos, a Jewish and Black student, the criticism did not register with the civil rights leader who preached and practiced civil disobedience.

“When Struppa tries to speak on Martin Luther King’s legacy, he’s coming from a perspective that doesn’t truly understand the nuances,” Moos said. “King was seen as radical in his time.”

A statement released by Students for Justice in Palestine aligned the Chapman encampment with the spirit of “Resurrection City,” a D.C. tent encampment that was cleared out a day after its permit expired during the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968 that King organized before his assassination.

Siding with the pro-Palestinian student group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations took issue with Struppa’s public criticisms, including his “misplaced and unfounded” contention about King’s legacy.

“By condemning the award presented to SJP Chapman, President Struppa not only undermines the rights of students to express their views but further promotes the nationwide pattern of hostility against them for their advocacy in support of Palestinian human rights,” said Amr Shabaik, CAIR-LA’s legal director, in a press statement.

In May, CAIR-LA called on Chapman’s leadership to protect pro-Palestinian student activists and investigate an incident involving man reportedly brandished a knife at them on campus.

That same month, Students for Justice in Palestine reached an agreement with administrators to voluntarily dismantle a two-week old Gaza solidarity encampment, which avoided a confrontation with police that ended a similar encampment at UC Irvine with scores of arrests.

As part of the agreement, no student activists faced disciplinary action.

Students for Justice in Palestine also pushed for the university to divest from companies they outlined as profiting from human rights abuses related to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But in September, the Chapman University Board of Trustees rejected the student group’s divestment proposal.

“Divestment is always going to be a focus,” Moos said of Students for Justice in Palestine’s work going forward. “With the ceasefire, we can also now focus on rebuilding [Gaza]. We’ll have to do fundraisers … to get money down there.”