At least 13 pro-Palestinian protesters who occupied the office of Stanford University’s president Wednesday morning were arrested after they declared they wouldn’t leave until certain demands were met relating to what they say is the school’s complicity in genocide in Gaza.
The group, which was made up of Stanford students and alumni, released a statement saying they entered president Richard Saller’s office around 6 a.m. and barricaded themselves inside. They said the action came as a “direct consequence” of school administrators “refusing to engage” with peaceful protesters’ demands.
“We refuse to leave until Stanford Administration and the Stanford Board of Trustees meet our demands and take action to address their role in enabling and profiting from the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” the group, Liberate Stanford, wrote in an Instagram post.
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They also said they had renamed the building “Dr. Adnan’s Office” in honor of Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, a Palestinian orthopedic surgeon who died in April in an Israeli detention facility in the West Bank.
At least some of those protesters were escorted from the building and taken into custody around 7:30 a.m. local time, local outlets reported. Authorities have not identified the protesters or what charges they face.
“A group of individuals this morning unlawfully entered Building 10, which houses the offices of the president and provost,” the university said in a community advisory. “The Stanford Department of Public Safety has responded to the scene and is assessing the situation.” The notice said no other campus operations had been affected, but those working adjacent buildings should avoid the area.
A later update said there was “extensive damage to the interior and exterior of the building,” suggesting some could be charged with vandalism.
Photos taken from campus by reporters, including Theo Baker, showed some graffiti on a Stanford building that read, “de@th to Isr@hell” and “kill cops.”
Stanford’s last day of the spring semester is on Wednesday. The Stanford Daily, the university’s student paper, reported that one of its journalists was detained and placed in zip ties.
Clips from the scene showed cops donning helmets and bulletproof vests, and escorting a protester from the building into the back of a police van.
Liberate Stanford issued a list of three demands, including that the university adds a divestment bill submitted by Stanford Against Apartheid in Palestine to a Board of Trustees meeting next week, along with a recommendation from Saller that the board vote in favor of divestment.
They also demanded that Stanford commit to disclosing its finances for the 2022 fiscal year and “drop all disciplinary and criminal charges and proceedings against all pro-Palestinian activists” at the university.
There has been no indication from Stanford that it plans to comply with any of the group’s demands.
Saller and Stanford Provost Jenny Martinez issued a joint statement at around 2 p.m. condemning the protesters, adding that the 13 students arrested will be suspended and any of whom were seniors will not be graduating.
“We are appalled and deeply saddened by the actions that occurred on our campus earlier today,” the two wrote. “The situation on campus has now crossed the line from peaceful protest from actions that threaten the safety of our community.”
The administrators added that the encampment was removed, “in the interest of public safety.”
