Local SJP Chapter, Once Honored with College Leadership Award, Praises October 7 on its Anniversary
Honored for “excellence” just last year, Sarah Lawrence College's SJP chapter praised the October 7th massacre on its two-year anniversary
On October 7, 2025, the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Sarah Lawrence College posted an image on Instagram captioned “honoring the resistance and our martyrs” along with an image of a terrorist on a paraglider, echoing language and symbolism used to glorify the terrorists who murdered 1,200 Israelis during the October 7, 2023 attacks. The post was first flagged by Dr. Steven McGuire, the Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom. Just a year earlier, the same SJP chapter had received a “Group Excellence Award” from the college during its annual leadership ceremony.
Document Details Allegations of Extremism
Recent events at SLC, including the November 2024 takeover of the main administrative building and an accompanying encampment where pamphlets displayed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and an assault rifle, have raised serious concerns about rising antisemitism on campus and the college’s inadequate response amid a broader national wave of campus antisemitism.
A letter to the college from the Committee on Education and Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, released in March 2025, compiled screenshots, social media activity, and internal communications, accusing SJP chapters of incitement, glorification of terrorism, and harassment of Jewish students. It lists examples of members praising Hamas, calling for “martyrdom,” and promoting rallies where participants chanted slogans such as “There is only one solution, intifada revolution.”
The document further alleges that SJP maintains a pattern of hosting “martyr remembrance” events and circulating posters romanticizing those who committed violent attacks. Critics argue these actions go far beyond political speech, amounting instead to the celebration of mass murder and antisemitism.
Praise and Awards at Sarah Lawrence College
Despite these accusations, Sarah Lawrence College in New York has praised its SJP chapter and rewarded it with accolades. In April 2024, the group was given the Group Excellence Award during the college’s Annual Leadership Awards ceremony.
An Instagram post celebrating the award shows the college’s Faulty & Staff for Justice in Palestine praising SJP for keeping a constant awareness of Palestinian life alive in the Sarah Lawrence community.
A Record of Incendiary Rhetoric
SJP’s inciteful messaging and tactics are not confined to one campus. Across the country, numerous chapters have used slogans and chants seen by critics as calls to violence. In one example documented in a federal complaint, SJP members at another university led rallies shouting “Intifada, intifada, long live the intifada” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
At the University of Illinois, administrators suspended an SJP chapter after it posted flyers listing “martyrs” — often used as a euphemism for terrorists — who had taken part in attacks on civilians. Nationally, SJP has promoted “Weeks of Rage” each October, positioning the anniversary of the massacre not as a day of mourning but as a rallying cry for additional violence.