BUZZ
A former Rutgers University law student is suing the school for allegedly violating his First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and expression.
According to the Cleveland Jewish News, Yiorgos Maravelias had been arrested at a May 2024 pro-Israel counter-protest for, he claims, hanging “anti-Hamas fliers” near an “anti-Israel encampment.”
Maravelias, a disabled veteran, said he got involved in “campus activism” shortly after Hamas’ October 2023 assault against Israel, Fox News reported.
He said he had set up a table next to a “vocal minority” of anti-Israel Rutgers law students to share his views about Hamas — that they’re “rapists, monsters, [and] savages.”
Maravelias’ complaint alleges Rutgers Law administrators “disfavored” his political views and “perceiv[ed] him as Jewish” (he’s not), and notes Rutgers is “home to the controversial Center for Security, Race and Rights,” headed by Law Professor Sahar Aziz, whom Maravelias accuses of “ripping [down] his fliers from a bulletin board.”
Maravelias alleges Aziz erroneously told him that hanging his fliers “was against school policy” — despite there being anti-Israel fliers hanging at the location.
According to the reports, Aziz and Maravelias went to meet with Dean Cate Lysionek together about the matter, at which (according to Maravelias) Lysionek informed Aziz there is “no such policy” regarding the anti-Hamas placards, and that both should address the matter with Dean Johanna Bond.
Aziz disputed Maravelias’ claim about what Lysionek said.
Maravelias claimed Dean Bond subsequently “declined to repudiate Aziz’s actions and refused to meet” with him.
When Maravelias returned to the site to hang up more fliers, “campus police officers told him he would be arrested” if he did not cease. He ended up being charged with disorderly conduct.
Although the local prosecutor dismissed the charges, Rutgers maintained the “student conduct” violations against him.
Maravelias claimed Rutgers officials “had no answer” as to just what the rules were for putting up fliers.
“I’m going to go participate in my speech. I’m letting you know right now that if anybody touches my flyers, it’s tit for tat. They rip down mine; I’m gonna rip down theirs. I’m not gonna let anybody censor me while I’m participating in free speech,” he said.
According to the suit, Maravelias is demanding a jury trial, “compensatory damages,” attorneys’ fees, and “other and further relief as th[e] court deems just and equitable.”
In 2021, Maravelias was highlighted by the Rutgers Business School, noting he was “on his path to pursue his JD and MBA degrees.”
According to her faculty page, Aziz’s research deals with “the intersection of national security, race, religion, and civil rights with a focus on the adverse impact of national security laws and policies on racial, religious, and ethnic minorities.”
Under the “Why We Exist” section of its website, the Center for Security, Race and Rights states “Since the September 11th attacks, Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities have faced increased discrimination and prejudice. A lack of knowledge about these diverse communities facilitates false stereotypes associating them and Islam with terrorism.”
The center currently highlights its “Humanizing Palestine” lecture series featuring Areej Sabbagh-Khoury’s “Colonizing Palestine: The Zionist Left and the Making of the Palestinian Nakba,” and Mouin Rabbani’s “Gaza Apocalypse: A Genocide Diary.”
