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Prosecutors in Cook County, Ill., have dropped misdemeanor charges against four Northwestern University staff accused of obstructing law enforcement during pro-Palestinian protests on the institution’s Evanston campus in late April, according to WBEZ Chicago.
The four were arrested by Northwestern University police earlier this month, two months after a pro-Palestinian encampment was dismantled after protesters and administrators struck a deal.
A representative for the Cook County state attorney general’s office told WBEZ the decision not to pursue the charges filed by Northwestern police is consistent with the office’s policy not to prosecute peaceful protesters.
Josh Honn, a librarian at Northwestern and one of the individuals arrested whose charges have been dropped, told WBEZ, “It has the appearance that Northwestern waited over two months to make these arrests and file these charges under the cover of summer when students aren’t here, people aren’t paying attention as much.”
Honn said the charges stemmed from the first day of the encampment, when faculty and staff formed a defensive line between student organizers and campus police, WBEZ reports.
“While the University permits peaceful demonstrations, it does not permit activity that disrupts University operations, violates the law, or includes the intimidation or harassment of members of the community,” university spokesperson Jon Yates said at the time of the arrests.
Assistant professor Alithia Zamantakis, another individual arrested, told ABC7 Chicago that university police read her Miranda rights in her on-campus office when she refused to come in.
Speaking with Northwestern’s Queer Media Association after the charges were dropped, Zamantakis said she was relieved. “But I’m still floored that the university would charge us for expressing our solidarity with the people of Palestine.”
