WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) released the following statement commending Students Supporting Israel (SSI), a pro-Israel organization on college campuses that supports students in grassroots pro-Israel advocacy, for receiving unanimous approval to be an officially registered group on Duke University’s campus after wrongly being denied recognition by school officials for months. 

“It is a chilling and disturbing sight in America when we see our universities adopt such close-minded ideology,” said Dr. Paul. “With the recognition of SSI by Duke officials, we not only celebrate a victory for religious freedoms in our academic institutes – but a victory for free speech everywhere. With the help of ZOA, Mort Klein and other groups supportive of Israel, I strongly advocated for an educational environment where free speech is not just accepted, but fully encouraged.”

Last month, Dr. Rand Paul, who earned a medical degree from Duke, wrote a letter urging the university to grant SSI official recognition. In the letter, Dr. Paul points out that SSI fulfilled all requirements for recognition, but was denied by the university’s student government based on an “arbitrary and biased” decision.Duke originally granted SSI recognition in November of 2021, but that recognition was vetoed by Duke’sStudent Government President just five days later on the basis of one of the group’s social media posts.