11 Case Western Reserve University students and activists who committed acts of anti-Israel vandalism across campus have paid more than $350,000 in restitution to avoid prosecution, reports Axios.
“The payments are part of a legal agreement with the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office under the pre-trial diversion program. If all stipulations are met, the defendants’ criminal records will be cleared.”
Three of the students still face university misconduct proceedings in an campus administrative hearing process.
The deal follows the indictment of the 11 in February for causing major damage to Case Western Reserve University during a protest last November over the war between Israel and Hamas.
The Cuyahoga County prosecutor explains, “They split into two groups and vandalized both the north and south sides of campus. They dumped and smeared gallons of red paint over multiple buildings, walkways, outdoor tables, an electrical pole, and on a statue of retired chemistry professor ‘Doc Oc’ — causing $400,000 in damages.”
A group devoted to the 11 activists, calling itself the “CWRU 11,” labeled the deal unjust to the 11, saying it is designed to “to scare us into silence.” It claims the $400,000 damage figure is excessive.
“CWRU has not provided a breakdown for these costs. The students and their supporters contend the number was punitively inflated,” says Axios. “Many of them have taken on new debt and worked multiple jobs to help make payments, and are also fundraising online.”
In California, pro-Hamas radicals did over a million dollars worth of damage to a branch of California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), temporarily shutting it down by taking over buildings and vandalizing equipment and structures.
Colleges have often let left-wing protesters get away with disruptive behavior and occupations of campus property they would never tolerate if conservatives did it. When Pro-Hamas protesters “shut down a Democratic” Congressman’s speech at the University of Maryland, the school’s president praised their action as an example of “democracy and free speech and academic freedom,” in comments he made to Capitol News Service.
Colleges have routinely allowed pro-Hamas protesters to block roads, disrupt classes with bullhorns, and prevent students from hearing what their instructors are teaching. As law professor David Bernstein observes, “the biggest problem with how many campuses are handling pro-Hamas protests” is “a failure to enforce existing, content-neutral rules” against misbehavior like going into classrooms to disrupt class with noisy protests that make it impossible to hear what the professor is saying. As history professor KC Johnson notes, “recent disruptive anti-Israel protests –students with bullhorns interrupting classes, etc)–were organized by unrecognized student groups. They’re ‘technically not permitted to stage on-campus demonstrations’” at schools like Harvard, because of their unrecognized status. So “Why hasn’t Harvard enforced its rules?”
By contrast, colleges have called in the police to try to catch and punish students who quietly express views that some minority students find offensive — such as posting flyers saying “It’s OK to Be White,” or flyers bearing the confederate flag.
The president of Western Connecticut State University threatened the unknown persons who posted flyers saying “It’s OK to Be White”, saying that they would face the “severest disciplinary actions, including dismissal as well as possible civil and criminal actions.” The university said its officials immediately reported the flyers to local and state police and the FBI office in New Haven, all of whom were investigating who made the flyers.
