Fordham nixed Pro-Palestinian group, suit says

FORDHAM UNIVERSITY unfairly blocked four students from forming a pro-Palestinian group because deans worried it would “stir up controversy” and use the term “apartheid” to describe Israel, a new lawsuit charges.

Students Ahmad Awad, Sofia Dadap, Sapphira Lurie and Julie Norris allege they followed the private Jesuit university’s guidelines for forming a local chapter of the national group, Students for Justice in Palestine, but were stymied at every turn by Dean of Students Keith Eldredge and other higherups.

“We’re not interested in suppressing any organization’s viewpoints, but Fordham is suppressing ours,” said Awad, 22, who attends the school’s Lincoln Center campus.

Fordham deans overrode the student governments’ approval of the group in December, after consulting professors and student Jewish groups, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court suit. It charges that the university improperly suppressed the students’ rights to free speech and broke its own guidelines.

“Fordham has told the students that it will grant the club status under a slightly revised version of constitution they had proposed,” a Fordham spokesman said.