A federal judge has ordered the University of Missouri to allow Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine (MSJP) to participate in next Saturday’s Mizzou homecoming parade in Columbia, with conditions.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Bough has issued a detailed 18-page ruling that prohibits UM System President Dr. Mun Choi from denying MSJP entry in the parade, “as long as it complies with parade policy.” President Choi twice rejected MSJP’s application to participate, citing safety concerns with the organization’s former president and campus violence elsewhere in the nation.
Judge Bough has ruled that Mizzou’s Homecoming parade constitutes private, not government speech. President Choi argues there were two prior incidents with MSJP’s former president that resulted in a student conduct charge for stalking and a restriction limiting her presence on campus to academic purposes only. However, the federal judge’s ruling says Isleen Atallah is no longer MSJP’s president and that she won’t be in Missouri during next Saturday’s Homecoming parade.
Judge Bough’s ruling also says while Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine (MSJP) must be permitted to participate in the Homecoming parade, nothing in his order prohibits the University or President Choi from enforcing the requirements of the parade policy. The judge’s ruling also says MSJP intends to display signs that say “Ceasefire now” and “Stop the Genocide”. The judge says those statements were not disclosed in MSJP’s application.