Duke University has moved to suspend its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) following complaints about a flyer posted by the group that many viewed as antisemitic, Fox News Digital reported.
The North Carolina university joins a string of other schools that have taken action against SJP chapters.
On March 13, Duke SJP posted a flyer on its Instagram advertising a meeting to discuss "Iran, Zionism and US Imperialism." The flyer drew sharp criticism because it showed two pigs shaking hands. One pig was dressed as the Statue of Liberty with "US Imperialism" written on its arm. The other pig wore a uniform and held a staff featuring a Star of David and an Israeli flag, with the word "Zionism" written on its sleeve.
Jessica Costescu, a staff writer at the Washington Free Beacon, noted that the caricature originally appeared in a Black Panther newspaper in the 1970s.
StopAntisemitism, a watchdog organization, strongly condemned the flyer. "Attempts to reframe or justify such messaging do not change its nature that anti-Zionism and antisemitism are directly intertwined," the group stated. In a response to its original post, StopAntisemitism lamented that the students responsible for the post "were not reprimanded."
"Duke University deserves credit for taking decisive action and revoking SJP’s campus status following deeply disturbing conduct, including the use of imagery depicting pigs adorned with Jewish Stars of David to promote an event attacking Zionism. That said, the administration stopped just short of full accountability, failing to meaningfully discipline the individuals responsible for this blatant antisemitic imagery," StopAntisemitism told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
"Universities cannot claim to take antisemitism seriously while allowing those who engage in such dehumanizing conduct to escape individual consequences," the organization added.
The flyer sparked 10 complaints from students to the university's Office of Institutional Equity (OIE), according to the Duke Chronicle.
On March 24, Ben Adams, senior associate dean of students for Duke's QuadEx program, informed SJP that the OIE had received complaints. He stated that the depiction of the pig holding a Star of David was deemed to be harassment under the university's Policy on Prohibited Discrimination, Harassment and Related Misconduct, the Duke Chronicle reported. Adams asked the group to remove the post, which it did. The university then froze the group's funding and later suspended the club.
While the flyer led to the suspension, it was not the first time Duke SJP was embroiled in controversy. In September 2025, the group held a "die-in" protest against the Israel-Hamas war. The Duke Chronicle reported at the time that students joined in chants of "Duke admin, you can't hide! You're supporting genocide!"
SJP has been sanctioned by several US universities over its anti-Israel activities.
The group was suspended by George Washington University in November 2023 after projecting messages critical of Israel and the university onto Gelman Library. Additional sanctions were imposed following involvement in a pro-Palestinian Arab encampment in August 2024, including a probationary period that was in effect at the time of the recent violations.
George Washington University later barred SJP from campus activities through at least May 18, 2026.
In November of 2023, Columbia University suspended both SJP and Jewish Voice for Peace, citing “repeatedly violated University policies related to holding campus events" by the two groups.
Previously, Brandeis University announced it is revoking recognition of the campus chapter of SJP, saying the group “openly supports Hamas".
In another instance, the University of Maryland revoked a permit it had given to SJP to hold an anti-Israel vigil on the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. SJP later filed a federal lawsuit against the school.
In August of 2025, Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, placed its SJP chapter on disciplinary probation for one year, following concerns that social media posts from the group created a hostile environment for Jewish students.