A group of pro-Hamas students took over the offices of Stanford University’s president and provost on Wednesday. The incident and demonstration began on the last day of classes. Stanford officials reported that the offices sustained damage, and a public safety officer was injured “after being shoved by protesters who were interfering with a transport vehicle.”
The building suffered significant graffiti and additional damage. An Associated Press journalist on campus observed walls spray-painted with political slogans advocating for the destruction of the United States and Israel and calls for killing police officers.
“This graffiti conveys vile and hateful sentiments that we condemn in the strongest terms,” the president and provost expressed in a joint statement.
This behavior is unacceptable. Anyone who behaves in such a manner in their community, such as their college campus, should face consequences.
It is contradictory to label yourselves as advocating for the vulnerable while calling for the destruction of countries, particularly a nation like Israel. The Jewish people have the right to defend themselves from harm, irrespective of the political debates surrounding the Palestinian territories.
Following the morning protest, Liberate Stanford’s Instagram account posted a call for a rally in front of the Santa Clara Main Jail. Do the protesters not realize that breaking the law results in rightful punishment? Do they not understand that damaging property, writing violent graffiti, or injuring law enforcement officials leads to arrest? This illustrates a larger issue. We see a group that believes they should be exempt from the consequences of their violent actions because they claim to be protesting violence.
In the hours after the protest, several arrests were made inside the building, and the seniors involved will not be allowed to graduate. My question is: Did the students expect any different outcome?
Even by the standards of civil disobedience, which offers protesters more leeway than they perhaps deserve, they should have anticipated arrest. This is assuming the protest was entirely peaceful, but Wednesday’s actions were anything but.
“This was not a peaceful protest, and actions such as those that occurred this morning have no place at Stanford,” Stanford spokeswoman Dee Mostofi stated.
The protesters abused their right to peaceful protest through violence and harmed their community. They are being punished for it, and the punishment is deserved.
