The University of Washington has suspended 21 students accused of storming and occupying a new engineering building Monday night in protest of the school’s ties to Boeing, officials announced Wednesday.
The suspensions come after at least 31 protesters were arrested Monday night while demanding the school sever ties with Boeing and end a “targeted assault” on pro-Palestinian activism.
About 75 masked protesters barricaded the engineering building’s entrances by stacking items found inside and around the building around 5 p.m., according to court documents. Despite the university’s attempt to shut down the building, protesters had already entered.
Protesters also lit fires in dumpsters on campus and caused “significant damage to the building and equipment inside it,” according to the university. Police had not provided a specific damage estimate as of Wednesday, though several new Haas Automation milling machines damaged in the protest were valued at over $100,000.
Most protesters were students, according to organizers with Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return UW, or SUPER UW.
“The 21 students who were arrested have been suspended and banned from all UW campuses,” a news release stated. “Non-student participants will be banned from the UW’s Seattle campus.”
In announcing the takeover, the activist group cited what it called the “heroic victory of Al-Aqsa Flood,” Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. That attack killed 1,200 Israelis, with over 250 people taken hostage. The protesters hung a banner from a second-floor window of the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building, renaming it the Shaban al-Dalou Building, after an engineering student who was killed by an airstrike last year in Gaza.
Following the campus occupation, the federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism launched a review of federal grants and contracts at the university.
“No institution that tolerates violence, harassment, or the open intimidation of Jewish students should expect to receive billions in taxpayer support,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a written statement Tuesday. “This isn’t about politics — it’s about whether a federally funded university is upholding the law, protecting civil rights, and fostering a safe environment for all students.”
The university condemned antisemitism in the Wednesday news release, saying it fully complies with Title VI and civil rights laws.
“We also recognize the need to continually improve and have for many months been taking concrete actions to improve the campus climate for Jewish students, faculty, staff and visitors,” according to the statement.
University officials said Wednesday that police arrested 34 people. Prosecutors counted 31. The reason for the discrepancy was unclear as of Wednesday evening. A university spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The University of Washington’s campus police were leading the investigation.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said in a written statement that he was “thankful that those responsible were arrested and, if found guilty, they should be held accountable.”
“I fully and always support people’s right to protest and to express their views,” Brown said. “Indeed it is foundational to our democracy. But everyone has a right to be safe on campus and UW must enforce the law.”
The protesters were arrested for investigation of trespassing, property destruction and disorderly conduct, and conspiracy to commit all three.
“No felony cases from the UW arrests have been referred to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office,” prosecutor’s spokesperson Casey McNerthney said in an email Tuesday. “No property crime cases have been referred to the (prosecutors’ office).”
Four protesters arrested on gross misdemeanor trespassing charges appeared in King County District Court on Tuesday and were released from custody, McNerthney said. All of the others posted $1,000 bond and didn’t need to attend a bail hearing.
Last year, the university reached an agreement with pro-Palestinian protesters who set up a “liberated zone” and occupied UW’s Quad for weeks. However, protests persisted after UW rejected demands to divest from Boeing, a major weapons supplier to Israel. The aerospace company has donated over $100 million to the university, including $10 million for the new 70,000-square-foot engineering building.
In March, the university’s Board of Regents voted against forming an advisory committee on divesting from companies with ties to Israel.
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