Twelve people charged with felony vandalism and other crimes after a June 5, 2024, protest at Stanford University’s executive offices were arraigned Thursday at Santa Clara County Superior Court in Palo Alto.
The defendants — mostly current and former students, and alumni — are scheduled to return to court July 17 for a plea entry. All are free on bail or their own recognizance.
All seats in the gallery of Judge Thang Nguyen Barrett were full of supporters and family and friends of the defendants.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen announced last month that the 12 would face charges stemming from an incident that caused an estimated $360,000 to $1 million in property damage. Prosecutors said protesters barricaded offices as part of a broader campus demonstration demanding Stanford divest from companies tied to Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
“Dissent is American. Vandalism is criminal,” Rosen said at a news conference. “Speech is protected by the First Amendment. Vandalism is prosecuted under the penal code.”
Outside the courthouse, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in support, despite a Santa Clara County Superior Court order banning demonstrations, recording and broadcasting.
The demonstration remained peaceful, with supporters chanting pro-Palestine slogans and cheering for the arrested students who spoke to the crowd.
About 15 minutes after protesters began speaking, sheriff’s deputies in riot gear moved to the courthouse entrance, where pro-Palestine demonstrators and their lawyers addressed the crowd.
Among those arrested last year was German Rafael Gonzalez, who told the crowd he experienced homelessness following his arrest.
“Many of us were sleeping in train stations, in cars,” Gonzalez said. “I hopped from couch to couch for months before I had a long-term space. We were being doxxed and harassed online daily, and we only made it back to campus through extensive support from the community.”
Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine called on Rosen to drop the charges, saying in a statement, “DA Rosen must rescind the felony charges, which threaten students’ futures in exchange for exercising political dissent.”
Students arrested in June 2024 also faced university sanctions, including suspensions, delayed degree conferrals and required community service.
Meanwhile, dozens of students and faculty are in the midst of a hunger strike, demanding that Stanford divest its endowment from Israel-linked companies. So far, university officials have declined to negotiate.
Eliana Fuchs, another arrested protester who identified as Jewish, said she never faced antisemitism on campus but feared expressing solidarity with Palestinians.
“The slimy beast that is antisemitism is not made of college students standing against genocide,” Fuchs said. “This year on campus, I never faced hatred because I am visibly Jewish, but I was scared to express empathy for Palestinian people.”
She added, “We, the Jewish people, cannot allow our justified, poignant, inherited fear of the Holocaust to stand in the way of clarity.”
Stanford has faced criticism from multiple sides over its handling of the protests. A university subcommittee reported widespread anti-Israel and antisemitic bias on campus, while another found that Islamophobia and prejudice against Muslim, Arab and Palestinian students were also prevalent.
As the crowd outside the courthouse grew, sheriff’s deputies ordered demonstrators to disperse or face arrest. Protesters later moved to a nearby park to continue their rally.
Despite a heavy police and sheriff’s presence, no demonstrators were arrested.
Pro-Palestine encampments at Stanford occurred in two waves: from October 2023 to February 2024, when protesters voluntarily dismantled tents, and again from April through June 2024, when university security cleared the encampment and made arrests.
Despite heightened scrutiny over free speech on campus, Gonzalez, whose parents immigrated to the United States after the Salvadoran civil war, expressed continued hope.
“The bombs that fell on my family’s country, that tore apart my parents’ town, that slaughtered my uncles and aunts — they are the same that fall on Gaza now,” Gonzalez said. “None of us are far from this genocide. That’s why I will never stop fighting for Palestine. I will fight, advocate, organize — because their fight is our fight. And when we fight, we win.”
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