Temple Students Face Charges for Taking Part in Camp Protests at Penn

At least one Temple student was arrested June 19 on a charge of riotous trespassing for attending a pro-Palestinian camp on the University of Pennsylvania campus on May 10.

The arrests came after a decision was made to add a misdemeanor to the previous charges for the student’s participation in another protest on Penn’s campus on May 17. The students were released on outstanding $2,500 bail the next day and transferred to Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, the arrested Temple student, who chose to remain anonymous, told The Temple News.

“The charging, arresting and imprisoning of Temple and other students at the direction of the University of Pennsylvania is yet another cruel and reckless abuse of power,” Pennsylvania State Rep. Christopher Rabb wrote in a statement to The Temple News. “The complicity of Penn, Temple, and the Philadelphia Police Department in policing, targeting, and punishing peaceful student protesters further undermines public trust in these institutions.”

Rabb was in contact with the arrested student and numerous other people throughout the proceedings.

The communication between Temple and Penn has led to students quietly receiving disciplinary action from Temple. At least two Temple students have received referrals from the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards for three violations of the student code. The violations include failure to comply with the law, disorderly conduct and property damage, according to an email sent to a Temple student.

“It sets a ridiculous precedent that my university, Temple, is punishing me for attending Camp Penn and getting arrested,” said a Temple student.

Temple University’s Department of Student Affairs did not respond to The Temple News’ request for comment.

SCHEDULE OF PROTESTS AND ARRESTS

Student protesters from various Philadelphia-area colleges were charged for two events: the day the camp was dismantled on May 10, and another protest during which students occupied Fisher-Bennett Hall on Penn’s campus on May 19.

Beginning on April 25, students protested for 16 days, camping on Penn’s College Green. The group hosted guest speakers and met repeatedly with the Penn administration to negotiate an end to the camp and its demands – divestment from corporations that profit from Israel and protections for Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students.

Before the camp was disbanded, Penn students were subject to community standards and accountability proceedings, and other schools, such as Temple, sought comment on individual student participation, one Temple student said.

Penn said in a May 10 statement that the students’ demands were not possible because they “unequivocally opposed divestment” and that the camp had received notices that they were violating Penn policies.

“At 6 a.m., we got a two-minute warning, and then the police came in, started pulling people off the ground where we were standing, using excessive force, dislocating two shoulders, a head injury, bruising arms,” a Penn student at the camp, who did not want to be identified, told The Temple News. “They were kneeling people in the back and face, pulling their hair. And ultimately, all of those people were taken to jail.”

During and after the camp, many of the arrested students were banned from Penn’s campus. Some Temple students received requests from Temple’s Dean of Students to talk about their participation, although it was not a mandatory meeting, the Temple student said.

On May 17, a week after the disbandment, protesters again gathered at Fisher-Bennett Hall in an attempt to occupy and barricade the building. Minutes after the protest began, police moved in to make arrests.

A Temple student testified that others were pushed into railings, dragged across the floor, tasered, punched and sat on.

“I remember I was in the van and I heard people chanting outside the van and all of a sudden the chanting stopped and all I could hear was someone screaming, screaming hysterically while he was being tasered,” the Temple student said. “The cops were just screaming, ‘Move, move, move.’ It was a very, very brutal scene.”

On June 19, Students for Justice in Palestine posted a statement on Instagram describing their experiences that day, but it was deleted two days later.

Twelve people were issued tickets for failure to disperse and disobey police orders, while seven people were charged with a crime, Penn said in a May 18 media statement.

A month later, Penn students were retroactively charged for a trespassing incident that occurred on May 10, leading to a new warrant being issued for their arrests.

It took 26 hours to free the Temple students. They were transferred to the CFCF and their cases were processed there. Even though the $2,500 deposit was paid within the first few hours.

“It’s so obvious,” said the Temple student. “They are literally attacking people protesting on Penn. They are disciplinarily attacking people who are part of the Penn camp and are not Penn students. That’s not even mentioning what I’m sure Penn students go through, which is also ridiculous. And they pursue us through the legal system because they have the means to do so.”

TEMPLE DISCIPLINE

In early June, at least two Temple University students received a discreet notice from the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards, forwarded through the Temple University Police Department, that specifically referenced the events that took place on May 10.

The lawsuit accuses him of disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property, but the Temple student has denied that he committed violence, created an inappropriate condition or destroyed property as the rules would suggest.

“There are many people who have graduated, who may have received honorary degrees, who have entire courses written about them, where there are tenured professors who have written and extolled the value of these extraordinary people who, according to Temple’s own practices, (they) would like to punish.” Rabb said. “Some moral clarity is needed. There needs to be some consistency in how we choose to engage students who do things that, on paper, may violate the Student Code of Ethics.”

Temple University’s Division of Student Affairs did not respond to The Temple News’ request for comment.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Rabb said some progressive lawmakers in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives contacted Temple’s Government Department about the decision to punish the students for the actions.

Temple seeks approval for its annual appropriation from the state Legislature each year — $158.2 million annually for the past five years. But Rabb and other progressives say they will consider voting against the appropriations bill after the discipline and arrests, he said.

“I think Temple is playing a very dangerous game by relying on lawmakers to pay him these enormous sums year after year and taking indirect actions that are completely at odds with the priorities and values ​​of the majority in the House of Representatives,” Rabb said.

The House will soon vote on funding for Temple and other public schools in the state. Last year, a bill to allocate funds for state universities failed several times in the state House over the summer before being passed in November.

“I want to make sure (Temple) isn’t cherry-picking candidates for political reasons to curry favor with my right-wing colleagues and win enough votes to make money,” Rabb said.

Pro-Palestinian students maintain their goal to divest from Israel, while the recently introduced “Stand with Israel” bill would block state funding for universities, including Temple, to do so.

“Everything we went through, whether it was being arrested, brutalized, thrown in jail, or facing disciplinary charges, is nothing compared to what people in Palestine go through every day,” the Penn student said. “But the fact is that this genocide continues, and institutions like Penn want to do everything they can to keep people from paying attention to it and their role in it.”