Orange County prosecutors on Wednesday filed misdemeanor charges against 10 demonstrators who were among dozens arrested in May during a pro-Palestinian protest on the UC Irvine campus in May.
The charges are the first to stem from arrests at UCI in the spring. Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said in a statement that the special prosecutions unit has spent months reviewing evidence related to the campus protest; up to 40 more people may still face charges, according to the district attorney’s office.
“The right to peaceful assembly is a constitutional right and we encourage protestors to exercise their right to peaceful assembly on any issue,” Spitzer said in a statement. “However, criminal activity which transcends peaceful assembly will not be tolerated.”
Roughly 3,200 people were arrested at colleges and universities nationwide this spring, mainly during a wave of pro-Palestinian encampments erected by students and activists protesting the war in Gaza, according to an Associated Press survey of students, universities and district attorneys. At USC and UCLA, hundreds of people were arrested as students demanded the universities divest financially from Israel.
At UC Irvine on the afternoon of May 15, police officers in riot gear descended on a pro-Palestinian encampment that had been erected on the campus weeks earlier. The police responded to the campus after university officials reported that some protesters had entered a university building. Police ordered the demonstrators to disperse, and at least 47 people were arrested in the hours-long showdown.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations was among several groups that sent a letter to the district attorney in June requesting that prosecutors decline to file charges related to the protest, said Amr Shabaik, the organization’s legal director in Los Angeles.
Shabaik called the charges a “political move” and said they’re part of a larger effort to silence speech and intimidate students who offer support of Palestine.
“We hope that they do not pursue the charges further and they recognize that these are students engaging in free speech. They should be listened to and addressed by their colleges,” he said. “Law enforcement should not be sent in to violently crack down and then intimate them through criminal charges.”
Two of those charged — Jonathan Brook Haley, 51, and Tiffany Herard, 50 — are listed on the UCI website as staff members. Four students are also facing charges. A campus spokesperson declined to say whether the staff members were still working at the university.
Herard, an associate professor of global and international studies, is charged with failure to disperse at the scene of a riot, resisting a peace officer with the threat of violence and resisting arrest, according to the district attorney’s office.
Haley, a lecturer in the school of humanities, and seven others, ages 20 to 40, were each charged with failure to disperse at the scene of a riot. One additional demonstrator, age 27, was charged with failure to disperse at the scene of a riot and resisting arrest, according to the district attorney’s office.
The individuals could not immediately be reached by The Times for comment. It is not clear whether any have retained attorneys. They are expected to appear in court Oct. 16.
A spokesperson for university declined to confirm the status of any students charged. The university wrote in a statement to The Times that the college “has a long history of supporting free speech and peaceful protest.”
“All members of the UCI community remain subject to all applicable laws, policies, and relevant codes of conduct while engaging in protest activities. As part of ongoing efforts across the University of California system, UC Irvine is clearly communicating with all members of the university community regarding campus policies, their enforcement, and the balance between free expression and campus safety,” the university wrote.
Many students arrested at campuses across the country have already seen charges dismissed. Still, hundreds of cases remain unresolved, according to analyses conducted by The Times, the Associated Press and other newsrooms in August.
