University Police find hateful fliers didn't break the law

University Police have stopped their investigation of what students called offensive, anti-Palestinian fliers that were posted near McKeldin Library last Tuesday after determining no crime had been committed, officials said.

The fliers will be reported as a hate incident to the FBI in end-of-the-year crime statistics because they were offensive to a specific cultural or religious group, said University Police spokesman Paul Dillon. But because they did not incite violence or pose a threat, they could not be considered a crime, he added.

Police launched an investigation after being contacted by university President Dan Mote last week, Dillon said. He said police interviewed students, read complaint e-mails and reviewed surveillance video, but determined posting the fliers did not break the law.

"Basically, these fliers were free speech," Dillon said. "Plain and simple."

The fliers were hung in response to last week's Palestinian Solidarity Week, a series of events meant to present the Palestinian side of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Organizers said they met opposition for their cause even before the week began when posters advertising the events were torn down.

Students involved with Palestinian Solidarity Week said they were taken aback by the amount of hate the fliers emitted, even if they weren't against the law.

"There is a difference between free speech and hate speech," said government and politics and Spanish language and literature major Sana Javed, who helped to organize Palestinian Solidarity Week. "They were an irrelevant commentary on Islam, but we were talking about politics."

In the fliers' aftermath, university officials want to create a campus-wide dialogue about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said Gretchen Metzelaars, director of the Stamp Student Union. The week after spring break, student leaders will meet to plan a summit, which is tentatively scheduled for April. Students will be invited to the summit to speak freely about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Metzelaars said.

Organizers of Palestinian Solidarity Week said they were disappointed with the conclusion of the police investigation but plan to work closely with the university to ensure the summit is productive.

"That'd be good so everyone is on the same page," Javed said. "We're definitely going to follow up with the university officials to make sure it's not put on the back burner ... because this is a big deal. We want a campus of tolerance."

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