The first meeting at the heart of the complaint occurred in January on Zoom. Members of a student organization, Students for Justice in Palestine, said they attempted to join the Zoom to ask questions and express their concerns about the trip.
Once some of the students were allowed into the informational session after changing their names, they said they waited until the Q&A portion of the meeting to speak, according to the complaint. Some students interested in participating in the trip expressed fear of discrimination and questioned whether they would have equal access in Israel due to previous experiences traveling in the country as Palestinians.
Palestine Legal cited emails obtained through a public records request, showing faculty discussed plans about denying admission to students who were likely to raise questions about the program. Palestine Legal said the complaint comes after students attempted to remedy the issue by filing internal grievances with the university's Office for Access and Equity in March. But in July, the complaint says those grievances were dismissed without explanation, and the UIC office found"no actionable allegations under the University Nondiscrimination Police Statement," a letter from the university said.