By: Fern Sidman

The University of Maryland, College Park, one of the nation’s most prominent state universities, has become the latest flashpoint in the escalating campus battle over Israel. According to a report that appeared on Friday in the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), the local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is pressing ahead with a resolution urging the boycott of Israel—timed deliberately to coincide with Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

The timing, say Jewish leaders, students, and civil rights advocates, is not incidental. Instead, it is part of what they describe as a broader campaign to marginalize Jewish students by weaponizing the very pillars of their faith.

Leo Terrell, chair of the U.S. Department of Justice’s task force on combating Jew-hatred, sounded the alarm in public remarks and on social media. “Students for Justice in Palestine appears to be intentionally picking the holiest days of the year for Jews in order to force them to choose between defending their Zionist identities or observing their religion,” he said. “This is shameful and unacceptable.”

As JNS reported, the resolution demands that the university cut ties with organizations alleged to “support or profit from Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation.” That sweeping language extends to boycotting goods, services, and even academic partnerships tied to Israeli institutions.

According to materials shared by SJP on social media, the vote is scheduled for Oct. 1, coinciding with the start of Yom Kippur at sundown. A deleted post captured by JNS also revealed that earlier iterations of the vote were slated for Rosh Hashanah, another central observance in the Jewish calendar. The repeated overlap with Jewish holidays has intensified suspicions that the scheduling is not accidental but rather part of a strategy to weaken Jewish participation.

The controversy has struck a nerve because of the broader climate. As JNS has documented in numerous reports, Jewish students across the United States face mounting hostility from SJP chapters and similar anti-Israel groups. From disrupted lectures to harassment campaigns, these organizations have become known for pushing rhetoric that blurs the line between anti-Zionism and outright antisemitism.

In Maryland, the decision to hold a vote on Yom Kippur effectively creates a “revolving door of exclusion,” say critics. “The idea is to force Jewish students to sit out,” explained one student leader, who asked to remain anonymous. “If we observe our faith, we forfeit our right to participate in student governance. If we participate, we are forced to compromise our faith. That’s not a choice any student should be forced to make.”

This framing resonates deeply in Jewish history. As the JNS report underscored, the notion of Jews being compelled to choose between religious observance and public belonging is not new, but it is especially alarming in 2025, on the campus of a major American state university.

A university spokeswoman told JNS that the Student Government Association (SGA), which is overseeing the resolution process, initially set the voting date in accordance with bylaws and deadlines tied to the University System of Maryland Foundation. She noted that after pushback, the date was moved to Oct. 1, “given the constraints of the academic calendar, the University System of Maryland calendar, fall break dates, and the observance of Sukkot, Yom Kippur, and other key dates.”

While the new date still falls on Yom Kippur, the university emphasized that legislators will be allowed to vote by proxy. Moreover, the spokeswoman insisted that SGA resolutions are “student-led” and “have no bearing on university policy or practice.”

But to Jewish leaders, this is little comfort. “The university’s response has been evasive at best,” said a representative of Hillel International, who spoke with JNS. “Allowing proxy votes does not erase the fact that Jewish students are being sidelined on purpose. This is about visibility and belonging, not just ballots.”

The timing of the Maryland controversy is significant. Across the United States and Europe, Jewish communities are grappling with a dramatic spike in antisemitic incidents since the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023. According to the information provided in the JNS report, anti-Jewish hate crimes surged in the wake of the Gaza war, with universities becoming epicenters of anti-Israel activity that often bleeds into outright antisemitism.

For many, the Maryland vote is part of a pattern. “It’s not just the content of the resolution,” Terrell explained. “It’s the deliberate effort to exclude Jews from participating in decisions that affect them, by exploiting their religious obligations. That is textbook antisemitism.”

The Anti-Defamation League and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law have long documented how SJP and its affiliates deploy tactics designed to chill Jewish student participation. Whether through aggressive rhetoric equating Israel with apartheid or through “days of rage” demonstrations, the impact is the same: Jewish students feel unwelcome, unsafe, and unsupported.

The SJP resolution at Maryland is emblematic of the movement’s larger strategy, the JNS report observed. The text couches its demands in the language of “human rights” and “equity,” calling for divestment from what it deems “complicit institutions.” Yet, as critics argue, the real target is not policy but Jewish identity itself.

The deliberate scheduling underscores that argument. By forcing a vote on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, SJP has signaled that it is not merely challenging Israeli policy but also undermining the ability of Jews to participate in campus life without compromising their faith.

“This is not the behavior of a movement that claims to fight for justice,” said one Maryland faculty member in comments to JNS. “It is the behavior of a movement determined to erase Jewish voices from the conversation.”

The Maryland controversy also highlights the intersection between campus politics and broader national debates. As JNS has reported, state and federal officials are increasingly scrutinizing the role of universities in tolerating or even enabling antisemitism. Lawsuits have been filed against elite institutions for failing to protect Jewish students, and congressional hearings have spotlighted university leaders’ unwillingness to define calls for Israel’s destruction as antisemitic.

In that climate, Maryland’s handling of the SJP resolution could set an important precedent. Will the university intervene to prevent the exclusion of Jewish students, or will it hide behind the formal independence of the SGA? That question looms large not just for College Park but for campuses across the country.

For now, the Jewish community at Maryland remains on edge. Jewish leaders are working to mobilize support, both on campus and nationally, to counter the resolution and call out deliberate discrimination.

“We will not allow this to go unnoticed,” said one rabbi active with campus advocacy, in remarks to JNS. “This is about more than one resolution. This is about the right of Jewish students to be both proudly Jewish and proudly pro-Israel, without being forced to choose.”

The controversy also emphasizes the need for greater vigilance. As Terrell and others have emphasized, antisemitism is not confined to fringe groups or dark corners of the internet. It is present in the heart of American academia, wielded by organizations that claim the mantle of justice while targeting Jewish students in their most vulnerable moments.

The unfolding drama at the University of Maryland reveals much about the state of Jewish life on campus today. On one level, it is about a single resolution and its timing. On another, it is about whether American universities will stand up for their Jewish students—or whether they will allow them to be sidelined under the guise of student governance.

As the JNS report indicated, the stakes go beyond one campus or one vote. They go to the heart of whether Jewish students can live, study, and worship as equals in American higher education.

The coming days will reveal whether the university’s leaders are prepared to confront this challenge head-on or whether they will allow Students for Justice in Palestine to succeed in its latest act of exclusion.