More than a dozen Stanford University students were arrested after a group took over the president’s office in protest against the Israel-Hamas war.
The protestors demanded that officials put divestment on the agenda at the board of trustees meeting this month, disclose its 2022 financial year investments, and grant amnesty for all student demonstrators on campus, a group spokesperson said on camera from President Richard Saller’s office.
“If these demands are met, we will leave your office, President Saller,” the spokesperson, who was wearing a disguise of a keffiyeh and sunglasses, said while sitting at the president’s desk.
“I want you to think about your legacy. No one is going to remember your historical research or your eight months as president. What they will remember is your silence and complicity in this genocide.”
The students temporarily renamed the office after Dr Adnan Al-Bursch, a Palestinian doctor who died in an Israeli prison in April. He was the head of orthopedics at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Campus police and officials with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office removed the students from the office later on Wednesday.
An encampment located on the campus’s White Plaza was also taken down.
In a joint statement, Sallar and Provost Jenny Martinez said the protest had “violated a number of university policies since its installation. While students have been sent to the Office of Community Standards disciplinary process for those policy violations, until today we have allowed the encampment to remain.”
The encampment was taken down around 10am on Wednesday. A public safety officer was injured while responding to the occupation.
Thirteen people were arrested inside Building 10, where the president’s office is located. University officials said that any arrested students would be immediately suspended.
Additionally, protestors allegedly damaged the building and put extensive graffiti vandalism on sandstone buildings and columns of the Main Quad.
“The graffiti conveys vile and hateful sentiments that we condemn in the strongest terms. Whether the graffiti was created by members of the Stanford community or outsiders, we expect that the vast majority of our community joins us in rejecting this assault on our campus,” the statement continued.
“There continue to be many ways for members of our community to engage in peaceful expression of diverse viewpoints on important global issues, in a manner consistent with our university policies. We value that continued peaceful and reasoned debate but forcefully condemn any actions like those that were taken today.”
