The Undergraduate Council of Students released a statement Tuesday evening calling on President Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 to drop the criminal charges against the 41 Brown students who were arrested in a Dec. 11 sit-in or “to consider an alternative resolution pathway outside the criminal justice system,” according to an email sent to undergraduate students.
The statement came on the same day as an email from Provost Francis Doyle to community members reaffirming University policy surrounding encampments. Doyle’s email is sent amidst a series of national protests calling for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas and on universities to divest from weapons manufacturers and companies affiliated with Israel, The Herald previously reported.
In the Dec. 11 sit-in, students demanded that Paxson call for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas and support divestment from “Israeli military occupation,” The Herald previously reported.
The UCS statement points to a Nov. 8 sit-in organized by Jews for Ceasefire Now, during which 20 students were arrested for trespassing. The students refused to leave University Hall until Paxson committed to “include and support a divestment resolution in the next meeting of the Brown Corporation,” the University’s highest governing body, The Herald previously reported.
“After offering students every opportunity for a different outcome, Brown issued multiple trespass warnings and ultimately moved forward in arresting approximately 20 (students) who refused to leave a campus building where their presence after operating hours posed security concerns,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald at the time.
On Nov. 27, the University requested that Providence’s City Solicitor’s Office dismiss the charges against the 20 students arrested in the Nov. 8 sit-in. The decision came two days after Hisham Awartani ’25 was injured in a shooting in Vermont, during which three Palestinian college students were shot, The Herald previously reported. The city approved the University’s request.
Paxson hoped that dropping the charges would “help refocus attention on issues that are important to us as a community” instead of being “distracted by other things that are divisive,” she told The Herald at the time. Paxson emphasized that dropping the charges did not set a precedent.
“I do want to stress that University Hall does not have 24-hour access, and we take trespass seriously and we will continue to do that in the future,” Paxson told The Herald at the time.
The UCS statement noted that the 41 students arrested on Dec. 11 “went forward with their protest knowing that the University would dole out consequences in accordance with past policies and accepted that as a premise of their protest.”
According to the statement, the 41 students and the University community were “not aware of key information relating to the University’s engagement” with the 20 students arrested in the first sit-in on Nov. 8.
According to the statement, before the Vermont shooting, a legal counsel emailed the 20 students about an offer the University made to “dismiss the charges upon some conditions, such as community service or a monetary contribution.”
“It is not presently clear why the University has not offered the second group of students — who mirrored the actions of the first in practically every way — the same possibility for alternative resolution it offered the first group,” UCS wrote in the statement.
“Offering an alternative resolution would demonstrate the University’s commitment to free speech, restorative justice, and fair treatment for students of diverse backgrounds,” the Council added.
But the University denied making any conditional offer to drop the charges. “It’s highly unfortunate that UCS did not seek to confirm this false statement with the University,” Senior Vice President of Communications Cass Cliatt wrote in an email to The Herald. “While we are not at liberty to speak on behalf of the solicitor, what we can say is that the University has no role in determining the outcomes allowable for violation of RI laws.”
“While the plaintiffs’ attorneys may have desired and advocated for certain outcomes, any proposals they made to the City cannot and should not be attributed to the University,” Cliatt added. “Brown made no such offer.”
Clarification: This article was updated to include a response from the University in which Senior Vice President Cass Cliatt disputed UCS’ claim that protesters were offered a conditional offer to drop the charges. “Brown made no such offer,” Cliatt wrote.
Julianna Chang is a University News Editor who oversees the academics and advising and student government beats. A junior from the Bay Area, Julianna is studying Biology and Political Science on the pre-medical track. When she's not in class or in the office, she can be found eating some type of noodle soup and devouring bad books.
