A Santa Clara County grand jury has indicted 11 pro-Palestinian students and others who barricaded themselves inside the Stanford president’s office last year.
The protesters, who broke windows and furniture, disabled security cameras and spattered fake blood throughout the building, were indicted on felony conspiracy to trespass and felony vandalism charges. The conspiracy charge stems from the allegation that the protesters used text messages to coordinate the office takeover in advance.
The case was presented Monday and the grand jury returned an indictment the same day, according to Rob Baker, a deputy district attorney in the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. The protesters were charged with the same crimes in April. The grand jury indictment supersedes those charges and allows the DA’s office to move more quickly to trial.
Early on the morning of June 5, 2024, protesters shattered a window and entered the building, carrying an electric grinder, hammers, crowbars and chisels. Their demands, which they broadcast on Instagram, included the university’s divestment from Israel-linked companies and the end of disciplinary proceedings against pro-Palestinian protesters. (Stanford did not accede to either demand.) Prosecutors said the group covered security cameras and barricaded the doors with ladders.
Police arrested protesters after “breaking through the barricades” and entering the building around 7 a.m., according to the DA’s office. Stanford said the vandalism caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.
That same day, graffiti was found on exterior walls nearby that stated “Death 2 Isr@hell” and “Kill Cops,” and Stanford removed a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on White Plaza that had been in place since April.
The director of the campus Hillel, Rabbi Jessica Kirschner, said at the time that the protest was deeply troubling and indicative of a small set of pro-Palestinian protesters on campus who had exerted an “enormously negative impact on the climate of the whole university all year.”
Those indicted Monday range in age from 21 to 33, according to the Mercury News.
Among them is Zoe Edelman, who is reportedly the granddaughter of Marian Wright Edelman, a renowned American civil rights activist, former adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a mentor to Hillary Clinton. Wright Edelman’s husband, Peter Edelman, is a prominent Jewish legal scholar and former president of the New Israel Fund.
In an April press release, the DA’s office said that a review of cell phone data demonstrated “detailed communication about the planning and commission of the conspiracy, including encrypted text-messages and links to detailed operational plans.” The communications included a document called the “Do-it-yourself occupation guide” that stated: “Vandalism? Occupying a space removes the space from the capitalist landscape.”
When Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen announced the felony charges in April, he did not recommend jail time. Rosen, who is Jewish, referenced “teshuvah,” Hebrew for “repentance,” in an interview with J. at the time. He said that he hoped the defendants would plead guilty, make restitution to Stanford and perform court-ordered cleanup work.
“Dissent is American. Vandalism is criminal,” Rosen said at a press conference.
Police arrested a student journalist on the day of the June 2024 incident but later dropped charges against him. Another protester already pleaded no contest under an agreement, according to the Mercury News.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations Bay Area is supporting the protesters and condemned the indictments in a statement Friday.
“It is shameful that the District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s office has decided to treat Stanford students calling for human rights as criminals,” CAIR Bay Area executive director Zahra Billoo said in the statement.
The defendants will be arraigned on Oct. 6.