Nearly 50 people gathered in White Plaza on Monday to stage a “people’s court” against the University, protesting disciplinary proceedings against pro-Palestinian students who occupied the president’s office in June. The demonstrators also condemned the Board of Directors refusal to withdraw from companies related to the Israel Defense Forces.

The protest took place on the same day as an Office for Community Standards (OCS) hearing for eight students who participated in the June 5 takeover of Building 10, the president’s office, in the Main Quad. The occupation led to 13 arrests, including a a daily reporteras well as suspensions and bans from campus. Pro-Palestinian activist groups on campus have since referred to the arrested students as the “Stanford 13,” calling on the University to drop disciplinary charges against them.

“It has become apparent that this genocide is taking place with the active participation of the United States and with substantial financial support from Stanford University,” said a speaker at the protest who identified himself only as a master’s student. “As we speak, the Stanford students who protested the genocide on June 5th are currently under disciplinary time.”

Student speakers were particularly critical of a recent decision by the University’s Board of Governors’ Special Committee on Investment Responsibility (SCIR) to take no action on a petition by SJP calling for the University to divest from companies linked to the Forces of Defense of Israel. SCIR cited in its letter “the avoidance of institutional orthodoxy” as an argument delivering the decision.

Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) announced Monday’s protest in an Instagram post that he stated“Stanford is to blame, not the 13.”

The demonstration took the form of a “people’s court,” in which student speakers assumed the role of “witnesses” to the University’s alleged complicity in Israeli war crimes.

Many students at the demonstration wore kefiehs and face masks. On stage, a banner read “Stanford On Trial” alongside a blood-soaked hammer and dozens of handprints.

Echoing the “trial” theme of the demonstration, protesters placed a cardboard cutout of University President Jonathan Levin ’94 on stage with a sign around his neck that read “Guilty.” One speaker referred to the president as “Lying, lifeless Levin.”

Another speaker read a statement they claimed was from one of the protesters who has been banned from campus since occupying Building 10. “I’m sorry I can’t be with you all in person,” the anonymous statement read. to condemn the Board of Trustees as “among some of the most dangerous people on this planet” for the University’s stance on the war.

The Daily has contacted the University for comment.

Several University administrators were present on the sidelines of the event, wearing lanyards that included their names and identified them as University agents. Kathy Veit, managing director of major gifts in the Office of Development, told The Daily that University staff were present to ensure that demonstrators followed the University’s guidelines. speech policies.

Snehal Naik, senior director of the Office of Student Involvement, said university administrators were present to “observe” the rally. In response to a question from The Daily, he did not specify any connection between the political message of the demonstration and the presence of University staff.

Joanna Baker ’25, who was in attendance at White Plaza, told The Daily that growing up in the “shadow of the Holocaust” led to her involvement in the Stanford Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist Jewish organization.

“As we learn these stories in our childhood, we all ask ourselves, ‘Why didn’t anyone do anything to stop it?'” Baker said. “These questions have been answered with propaganda to make us believe that taking other people’s land is what is needed to keep us safe.”

Arielle Johnson, who recently started as a postdoctoral fellow in bioengineering at Stanford, noted a “slightly larger activism movement around Palestine” than at her previous institution, Cornell. At both universities, however, she said many students may “feel they have a lot to lose” by publicly engaging in pro-Palestinian activism.

“I’m scared too, but I’m here because I still have my life and my health,” Johnson said. “I’m in a situation where I can come here and do an academic job, and that’s not true for the people of Gaza.”

A Lebanese student, who identified herself only as Hannah, spoke about the impact of Israeli forces in Lebanon, pointing out bombing of civilian areas. Israel EXTENDED a ground invasion and airstrikes on Lebanon in early October, escalating a long-running conflict with Hezbollah, a militant Islamist organization and Lebanese political party.

“My grandfather brought strawberries to Lebanon. He was a farmer. My father and my uncles all worked there and spent their lives there, and now where is it?” Hannah said. “All these amazing institutions that are built in our families are gone.”

A protester told The Daily that undercover officers from the Santa Clara Police Department (SCPD) were at the protest. The Daily was unable to corroborate these claims and reached out to the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS) and the Santa Clara Police Department (SCPD) for comment. The Daily also contacted the University regarding the presence of private security groups at the protest.