Pro-Palestine Yale Faculty Group Has Gone Almost Completely Silent Since Last Year

Since last year, Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine-Yale, or FSJP-Yale, Yale’s chapter of the national FSJP organization, has gone almost entirely dark on its website, X and Instagram accounts. 

The death toll in the Gaza Strip following Israel’s military offensive is estimated to have grown to nearly 48,300, with a corresponding 111,700 injuries, according to a recent United Nations report released February 21. Some 1.9 million Gazans, or 90 percent of the population, have been displaced. 

Following last year’s student encampments, these developments have inspired scattered activism on Yale’s campus on the part of Yalies4Palestine, the Sumud Coalition, and adjacent organizations in recent months. But the response coming from FSJP-Yale, the official pro-Palestine Yale faculty group, has been a bit more muted.

Last year, FSJP-Yale’s X platform regularly posted content, including official statements in support of April’s disruptive student encampments, both on and off Yale’s campus, totaling 70 posts from January through May 2024. On April 22 alone, FSJP-Yale issued 10 separate posts and reposts condemning the Yale administration’s “disturbing decision” to arrest nearly four dozen students over encampments erected on Beinecke Plaza.

Since May, their X account has halted nearly all regular activity, with them only recently issuing an official press release ripping President Trump’s supposed “threat to deport all Gazans” — their first post in nine months. 

On their Instagram account, there has been a similar decrease in activity, excepting several posts a few months ago that were in support of November’s campuswide divestment referendum. FSJP-Yale’s website is actively advertising two on-campus events — both of which, according to their pamphlets, supposedly took place nearly a year ago. 

The Buckley Beacon reached out to Greta LaFleur, a member of the national FSJP organization’s steering committee and Associate Professor of American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale. LaFleur did not respond to The Beacon’s multiple requests for comment.

This report comes just days after President Trump posted a AI-generated video on Truth Social and Instagram, known online as “Trump Gaza,” which has garnered significant backlash from both Democrats and certain Republicans. The video features a fictional “Trump Gaza” hotel in the Palestinian territory, a possible corollary to Trump’s hints of a US-takeover of the Gaza Strip. 

In spite of their website’s stated commitment to “the fundamental rights of Palestinians to self-determination and legal and substantive equality,” FSJP-Yale did not release a statement in response to Trump’s proposals. 

“The kindest reading would be demoralization,” Tori Cook ‘27 told The Beacon, referring to FSJP-Yale’s apparent drop out of online presence. “I fear that a more accurate reading is that many involved in advocacy at Yale are involved in just that: advocacy. They rally when rallied, yet are inconsistent without provocation.”

The FSJP-Yale website features a form to document “anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim incidents within the Yale community as well as attacks on Yale students who are speaking out about the war on Gaza and justice for Palestine, and administration response,” as part of a broader “Documentation Project.” It is unclear whether this effort has been successful, or that the “project” is still actively accepting community responses. 

“In my experience, many on campus are still engaging in conversation and personal advocacy for the Palestinian cause,” Cook ‘27 continued to The Beacon. “[But] I do think we’ve seen a big drop off in the number of events held in relation to Israel-Palestine. Both sides are quieter, which is only natural when the amount of events held starting with October 7th was so large.” 

The official FSJP-Yale chapter, and the national FSJP organization, did not return The Beacon’s requests for comment.