Pro-Palestinian protesters occupied the office of Stanford University’s president on Wednesday morning, saying they wouldn’t leave until certain demands are met relating to what they say is the school’s complicity in genocide in Gaza.
A group made up of Stanford students and alumni released a statement saying they had entered Stanford president Richard Saller’s office at around 6 a.m. and barricaded themselves inside. They said the action came as a “direct consequence” of school administrators “refusing to engage” with peaceful protesters’ demands.
“We refuse to leave until Stanford Administration and the Stanford Board of Trustees meet our demands and take action to address their role in enabling and profiting from the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” the group, Liberate Stanford, wrote in an Instagram post.
They also said they had renamed the building “Dr. Adnan’s Office” in honor of Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, a Palestinian orthopedic surgeon who died in April in an Israeli detention facility in the West Bank.
“A group of individuals this morning unlawfully entered Building 10, which houses the offices of the president and provost,” the university said in a community advisory. “The Stanford Department of Public Safety has responded to the scene and is assessing the situation.” The notice said no other campus operations had been affected, but those working adjacent buildings should avoid the area.
Liberate Stanford issued a list of three demands, including that the university adds a divestment bill submitted by Stanford Against Apartheid in Palestine to a Board of Trustees meeting next week, along with a recommendation from Saller that the board vote in favor of divestment.
They also demanded that Stanford commit to disclosing its finances for the 2022 fiscal year and “drop all disciplinary and criminal charges and proceedings against all pro-Palestinian activists” at the university.
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