Wednesday morning a small group of Stanford students occupied the office of the president and issued a list of demands. They barricaded themselves inside and refused to leave until those demands, related to Israel, were met. But one of their demands was that the students involved in the occupation would be given amnesty for their actions, i.e. no punishment for the trespassing and vandalism.
Rather than negotiate with them, the administration called the police. Police had to break through a door but then went inside and arrested all 13 students who were present. The administration also announced that seniors in the group would not graduate and everyone who was a current student would be suspended. But it turns out that was just the start. The Stanford Daily reports those students have now been charged with felonies.
Thirteen individuals, including 12 protesters and a Daily reporter, who were detained by the Stanford Department of Public Safety (SUDPS) and the County Sheriff’s Office, were charged with felony burglary. Protesters barricaded themselves inside the president and provost’s office, located in Building 10 in Main Quad, early Wednesday morning.
Students were suspended and banned from campus for the rest of the quarter until June 12, as the University processes disciplinary referrals to the Office of Community Standards (OCS). Any who are seniors will not be allowed to graduate. Bail for arrested individuals was set to $20,000.
All of these students, with the possible exception of the student reporter, knew they would likely be arrested. They chose to opt in for that. But it's a safe bet that they also assumed they'd be given a slap on the wrist, i.e. minimal charges or more likely the charges would be dropped. I'm sure they weren't expecting to face felonies.
At this point, the parents of all of these kids are now involved and probably shopping around for attorneys. Will that be the end of it? Will the school follow through or is this just a scared straight moment.
It's hard to say which at this point, in part because we haven't seen any photos of the inside of the building. During previous school takeovers there has been extensive damage and there were some reports that the same thing happened here.
Stanford University police arrested 13 pro-Palestinian protesters Wednesday who entered the president’s office early in the morning and, the university said, caused extensive damage in the building and injured one of the officers trying to clear the building.
Outside, the stone walls were painted in dozens of places with swear words and death threats against police, America and Israel, though a group claiming to be behind the occupation disavowed responsibility for the graffiti.
They deny doing the graffiti, probably because that could lead to more charges, but who else did it if not the same people who occupied the building that morning? I mean, both things happened at like 5 am in the same place but we're supposed to pretend this is a mystery?
Meanwhile, whoever is handling the jailbirds' social media is calling them the "Stanford 13" and is already begging for money on their behalf.
We'll have to wait and see if the school follows through. I do think they should drop charges against the reporter unless they have clear evidence he participated in the vandalism in some way.
Finally, this isn't directly related to this incident but Stanford just announced that they are following the lead of a bunch of other Ivy League schools and reinstating the SAT.
Stanford will resume requiring either the SAT or the ACT for undergraduate admission, beginning with students applying in fall 2025 for admission to the Class of 2030. Stanford will remain test-optional for students applying in fall 2024 for admission to the Class of 2029...
The university is reinstating the test requirement in a manner that will allow all students enough lead time to plan and prepare for testing. Scores from the SAT or ACT will only be required beginning with students applying in fall 2025 for admission to the Class of 2030.
That's good news and another sign that Stanford is moving in the right direction, i.e. toward academic excellence.
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