Anti-Semitism watchdog groups are calling on the university to take tough action against anti-Israel agitators who occupied the offices of Stanford’s president and dean early Wednesday morning.
Stop Anti-Militancy Executive Director Liora Rez told Fox News Digital that the university is complicit in the campus occupation by students and other activists.
“The liberal arts universities that have tolerated this behavior, like USC, Columbia, NYU, are now seeing the outrage over these bad actors and their actions,” Rez said.
Students walk past graffiti near President Richard Thaler’s office at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Nick Cooley)
Police made more than a dozen arrests after anti-Israel activists took over the offices of Stanford University’s president and assistant dean early Wednesday, causing what authorities described as “widespread” vandalism both inside and outside the building.
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Photos shared by StopAntisemitism on X showed derogatory phrases such as “Kill the cops,” “Burn this damn thing” and “Death to Israel” scrawled on the wall.
The occupation began around dawn on the last day of classes at Stanford University’s spring semester and ended three hours later. Some protesters barricaded themselves inside the building, while others linked arms outside. “Palestine will be free. We will liberate Palestine,” the group chanted.
Campus maintenance workers remove a broken window from the president’s office at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Nick Cooley)
Rez said extremists on campus are “supporting Hamas terrorists” and holding American college campuses hostage in the process.
“We are calling for the expulsion of all individuals who are in fact Stanford students,” Rez said, “not just a light suspension and reinstatement two days later, as we saw at Columbia.” [University]expel them. Don’t let them graduate, and instill real consequences. Enough is enough.”
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Protest camps have popped up on college campuses across the U.S. and in Europe in recent months as students demand that their universities divest from companies that do business with Israel in the wake of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, which was sparked by an Oct. 7 Israeli attack targeting Hamas terrorists.
Graffiti was painted on a wall near the president’s office at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Nick Cooley)
Stanford University President Richard Saller and Dean Jenny Martinez said Stanford students who participated in Wednesday’s protests will be immediately suspended and seniors will not be allowed to graduate.
The university also said it removed a pro-Palestinian student camp on Wednesday that had been set up on campus on April 25, citing public safety concerns and violations of school policy.
“The situation on campus has now crossed the line from peaceful protest to endangering the safety of the community,” they said, adding that demonstrators had recently tried to occupy another building.
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Students walk past graffiti near the Stanford University President’s Office in Palo Alto, California, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Nick Cooley)
The president and assistant dean said there was extensive graffiti on the sandstone buildings and columns in the main courtyard, in addition to damage inside. Video posted on social media showed police breaking down a door. Other photos showed desks splattered with red liquid.
The university president and assistant dean said the graffiti calling for the death of Israel and police “conveys vile and hateful sentiments and we condemn it in the strongest terms.”
Lez, who fled the Soviet Union with his family as a child, said universities such as Columbia, New York and Stanford should have “prevented” these protests from day one.
Students walk past graffiti near the president’s office at Stanford University, Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in Palo Alto, California. (AP Photo/Nick Cooley)
“They thought they could appease the sponsors of terrorism by negotiating with them, but we have learned, and history has shown us, you can never appease the sponsors of terrorism,” Rez said. “They want more and more until they consume everything in their path.”
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Protesters have accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, where the Hamas-run Health Ministry claims Israeli forces have killed more than 36,000 Palestinians.
The figure does not distinguish between Hamas fighters and civilians. Israel disputes the figure, accusing Hamas of operating in densely populated civilian areas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
