On April 7, Max Schreiber, a third-year student at Washington University in St. Louis, was forced to relocate an open-air art display off campus under threat of arrest by campus police.
Schreiber had erected a white-painted canvas tent that morning, inviting passersby to write messages in solidarity with the people of Palestine. After several confrontations with both campus police and university administrators, he ultimately moved the display across the street to Forest Park to avoid arrest.
Max is a member of Jewish Students for Palestine (JSP), a student organization at Washington University formed shortly before last year’s wave of nonviolent protests, which were violently suppressed on campuses across the country.
JSP was formed in opposition to the pro-Zionist Hillel and Chabad organizations on campus, by Jewish students who reported being ostracized for their political views despite sharing the same faith. Members of JSP were present in support of Schreiber and the art display.
Julie Flory, vice chancellor for marketing and communication at Washington University, claimed, “(Max) did not have prior approval for this structure, so they were advised to remove it, which they did… There was no need for police to respond.”
These are weasel words. Schreiber and those supporting him understood clearly the real consequences of openly expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people and opposing the extermination campaign of the Netanyahu regime: violent suppression, the threat of arrest and potential expulsion from campus.
Schreiber acknowledged that the display did not have prior approval, but noted that a similar installation he erected the previous semester—one that made no mention of “Palestine”—was allowed to remain without incident. This selective enforcement is emblematic of the broader regime of thought control being imposed on college campuses nationwide in response to last year’s protests against the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Students, faculty and staff are left in the dark about where the university administration draws the line—what speech or activity might land them in jail, abruptly end their education or employment or even result in abduction and disappearance at the hands of masked agents.
One thing is clear: there is a double standard. Those who express solidarity with Palestinians face repression, while those jeering at them from the other side, espousing the most virulent, far-right forms of Zionism, are given free rein.
April 27 marked one year since the violent police crackdown on protesters in Tisch Park at Washington University. Among those arrested was then–Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who, at 74 years old, was absurdly accused of assaulting a police officer with a bicycle.
More than 80 people were detained as campus and local police dismantled the protest encampments. Demonstrators had demanded that the university cut financial ties with Boeing, a key arms supplier to the Israeli military, which uses its weaponry in the ongoing bombardment of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Just prior to the 2024 encampments and mass arrests, members of Jewish Students for Palestine (JSP) supported a successful resolution by the Washington University Student Union calling for full divestment from Boeing. The measure passed by a vote of 15–5 in the student senate.
Today, students who speak out in defense of Palestinian lives face severe repression. The Trump administration arrested Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil without a warrant, a blatant violation of his constitutional rights.
Cornell graduate student Momodou Taal was forced to flee the country after being ordered to surrender to ICE agents in March. Across the country, those opposing the genocide in Gaza do so under the constant threat of arrest, detention and deportation—regardless of whether this is legal or not.
State and university authorities have colluded to create a climate of fear on campuses across the country. In many cases, there is no need for a visible police presence—students, faculty and staff already understand the consequences. Recent events have made clear the lengths to which the state will go to intimidate, silence and punish those who speak out.
This culture of silence and the ever-present threat of repression must be opposed both on and off campus. But such a fight can only succeed if it is rooted in a political orientation to the working class.
The program advanced by the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) was outlined in the 2025 International May Day Online Rally, which all students should watch and study.
The defense of democratic rights, including freedom of expression, requires building a mass movement to confront and overthrow their root cause: the capitalist system. Students at Washington University should join the IYSSE and take up the fight by building a chapter on campus.