DA declines charges against Stanford student reporter at protest barricade
For release on March 6, 2025
CONTACT:
Brian Welch
Assistant District Attorney
(408) 792-2624
[email protected]
DA declines charges against Stanford student reporter at protest barricade
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has declined to charge a Stanford University student journalist for his role in a protest barricade last year.
The student, who was reporting for the Stanford Daily, a student-run media news organization independent of the university, was embedded with a group of protesters when they barricaded themselves in a closed campus administrative building. Some students broke furniture, spattered fake blood, and covered a security camera during the protest.
“This Office supports a free press and recognizes that the law gives reporters latitude to do their jobs in keeping the public informed,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “We have no evidence that this student did anything other than cover this event as a journalist.”
The DA’s Office is completing its review of the conduct of the other students who took part in the barricaded protest inside the building. After the review, prosecutors will decide whether to file criminal charges.
At 5:30 a.m. on June 5, 2024, masked protesters broke into the locked Building 10 at 450 Jane Stanford Way on the Stanford campus – the site of the president’s office. Joined by the reporter, protesters then barricaded themselves inside and began recording social media videos and livestreaming demands. The reporter participated in at least one published story while inside the barricade.
The Stanford University Department of Public Safety responded to the scene and requested mutual aid from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and the Palo Alto Police Department. Officers arrived on scene, broke through the barricades to get into the building, and arrested the group.
During the brief occupation, the suspects ransacked offices and damaged the interior of the building. The interior damage included broken doorframes, furniture, and damage caused by the fake blood splashed throughout the building. Stanford University estimated the cost to repair the damages to be more than $700,000.
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