SJP’s latest chalk campaign was partially censored.
At 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 6, members of the University of Tulsa’s Students for Justice in Palestine organization gathered to chalk the sidewalks on campus. The messages communicated things like “don’t stop talking about Palestine” and “our tuition is funding genocide.” According to multiple anonymous students and SJP organizers, a significant portion of the chalk campaign had reportedly been altered by campus security with mops and brooms by 2 a.m. the following day.
Mona Chamberlin, executive director of the universities’ marketing and communications, stated that the removal of the chalk by campus security was done “without administrative approval.” She continued, saying, “We constantly evaluate free speech rights in relation to our responsibility to ensure a safe campus, devoid of harassment.”
Senior Sophia Rehman, an SJP organizer and member and political science and media and communications major, recounted the timeframe of the erasure of the chalk. “Some of our members found out around 1:20 a.m. I realized that they were specifically targeting the words ‘tuition’ and ‘taxes.’”
SJP has been a strong advocate for TU to be more transparent with its funds. The group is currently running a disclosure and divestment campaign; the University of Tulsa’s investments are private, which has been an ongoing point of controversy amongst the student body and faculty. Calls for disclosure and divestment of the school’s $1.4 billion endowment have been made by SJP and other groups on campus, like the Young Democratic Socialists of America.
“They almost exclusively chose to remove chalk that implicated the university itself, but in some instances chose to deliberately twist our words to have the opposite message,” commented sophomore mathematics major and SJP member Adrian Warwick. “They washed off ‘don’t’ in ‘don’t stop talking about Palestine.’ As far as I’m aware, the word ‘don’t’ isn’t offensive, inflammatory or implicating.’
Rehman further explained why the group was chalking on Oct. 6: “SJP was chalking to remind our university of the fact that our tuition and tax dollars are actively funding the genocide and occupation of Palestinian people, and that this isn’t something that started just three years ago. It’s been 78 years of occupation. Of course, the week of Oct. 7 is when the most recent escalation began [three years ago].” This was when Israel officially launched its latest military operation in Gaza, which has since been ruled a genocide by the United Nations.
Some students and organizations took issue with the timing of the chalking, finding it insensitive due to the Hamas attacks that took place against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. “If SJP really cared about ending the conflict, they’d call for the disarmament of Hamas,” posted the universities’ Turning Point USA club, via Instagram.
“The university has changed their chalking policy since I arrived here as a freshman.” stated Rehman. “When we [class of 2027] first got here, there were really no perimeters around it. That’s changed. The university has said that we can’t say ‘From the river to the sea’ but has not pointed to what policy specifically says that.” The full phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” describes Palestine’s historic geography, which expanded from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Supporters of the pro-Palestine movement refer to this phrase as a call for equal rights and democracy in the territory, while Zionists have called it an antisemetic demand for the destruction of the state of Israel. The university’s risk assessment committee condemned and censored SJP using this phrase during chalk demonstrations.
SJP has been an SGA chartered organization since 2024. They have done multiple chalking campaigns that have not gone without scrutiny. Similar incidents have occurred in the past few years. In 2023, the multicultural student organizations, who collaborated to create a mural during homecoming week, had their mural vandalized, a mural made by Give Gaza Hope was covered with red paint in 2024 and, during the 2025 homecoming celebration, SJP painted the phrase “From the river to the sea” during a street-painting event, later to be told by administration that it had to be painted over.
“The chalking is to get discourse going. We believe in free speech and free expression, and chalk is another form of that. It’s a smaller part of our [SJP’s] larger goal at advancing Palestinian liberation through our divestment campaign, political education and fundraising,” articulated Rehman. In spite of — and largely due to — unexpected methods of censorship, SJP’s chalking campaign certainly did get people talking about Palestine and questioning why the censorship was necessary.
