MECHA de ASU, a political student organization, was given an interim suspension last week over a post on its Instagram calling for the "deaths" of certain groups.
The organization has appealed the suspension, according to an ASU spokesperson.
Two videos of police body camera footage are posted on its Instagram with a caption that says "Death to boer. Death to the Pilgrim. Death to the zionist. Death to the settler." The caption also includes comments refusing to condemn Hamas or other events that have occurred recently in Gaza. The post remains on their Instagram, with trigger warnings attached.
"Student organizations are subject to the Student Code of Conduct to the same extent as students," an ASU spokesperson said.
In response to the suspension, MECHA chapters nationwide and other non-student political organizations in Arizona signed a statement condemning the suspension and demanding ASU reinstate the organization, as well as reaffirm the right of student organizations to "freedom of expression."
"The university has made it clear that it does not care about about the desires of the student body to not be complicit in genocide, nor does it actually value freedom of speech like it claims to do," the statement says.
ASU said in a statement in October 2023 that it's committed to "a safe and inclusive environment," and that it encourages "respectful conversations that promote mutual understanding and empathy."
In a meeting with The State Press in November 2023, ASU President Michael Crow said whenever there's a demonstration on campus, people who participate have to "live in the student code of conduct." ASU has said it's committed to free speech on campus.
"You can't suppress what people have to say about how the democracy is working," Crow said in the meeting. "You have to allow for that to be expressed. You can't then also allow for people to knock the buildings down and start fighting with other people and things like that. So there are limits is what I'm saying."
Edited by Angelina Steel, Alysa Horton and Caera Learmonth.
Reach the reporter at sbrenna5@asu.edu and follow @shanebrennan36 on X.
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Shane Brennan is the Editor-in-Chief at The State Press. He was a sports and politics reporter, before becoming the editor of the politics desk. He has covered local and state politics for the Arizona Capitol Times and Cronkite News.
