BOULDER – Despite having their official student group recognition placed in “bad standing” in 2024 and another strong admonition from the University of Colorado Board of Regents, a pro-Palestinian group of CU Boulder Students continue to keep a Website active calling for the release of Mohamed Soliman, the man guilty of the Pearl Street firebombing in June 2025 that killed one woman and burned 13 others.
The group appears to celebrate the deadly attack on a demonstration by members of the Jewish community advocating for Israeli hostages held by Hamas, designated a terrorist organization.
Bad standing means that the group – Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) — is no longer recognized as an official CU organization.
The Website went up initially on June 1, one year to date that Soliman committed the terrorist act. He pled guilty in May and was sentenced to life plus 2,178 years in prison.
Although other media outlets reported the group removed the statement from its site Complete Colorado found that the page remained active as of press time (an archived version is available here).
Celebrating the attack
“He took direct action against the Zionist death cult festering in our city,” the site says. “He struck against the colonist procession that gathers weekly to celebrate the pretext for ongoing genocide.”
Calling it a “case of the chickens coming home to roost,” the group states:
“The colonists present at the Run for Their Lives procession each week carry posters celebrating war criminals who have served as the pretext for the systematic extermination of the Palestinian people since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” the site reads. “When community members confronted those … with cries of ‘Stop killing kids,’ the marchers responded with proud declarations that they wished death upon every child in Gaza. … Mohamed chose the only sane response available to a rational human being confronted with the normalization of genocide. He refused the comfortable position of the grateful immigrant and the role of obedient subject, choosing confrontation with a violent system over passive proximity to the comfort of the empire.”
The group’s official designation was revoked over multiple campus violations, including disrupting a career fair, amplifying sound, and a member being arrested for theft and harassment on campus, to name a few. Campus groups are banned from any activities that disrupt the university’s mission.
CU responds
The group’s latest antics caused CU to issue a strong admonition of the group and its purpose. In a prepared statement college officials said:
“Glorification of violence is abhorrent and does not reflect the University of Colorado Boulder’s values. We denounce antisemitism and violence in all forms, and prohibit discrimination and harassment on the basis of protected class. The post has been reported to the appropriate campus offices for further review,” the statement said. SJP “does not speak for CU Boulder and is not a recognized student organization because it has failed to remedy policy violations and complete necessary requirements after being initially placed in bad standing in Fall 2024. All recognized student organizations at CU Boulder are required to comply with the university’s nondiscrimination policy. We do not currently know whether any students or other campus affiliates were involved in the making of the post, and that is part of the university’s review.”
CU officials would not comment further saying any information about student involvement is protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
