Stanford protesters charged for destructive building takeover

For release on April 10, 2025 

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Stanford protesters charged for destructive building takeover

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has charged a dozen people for breaking into a Stanford University campus building last year, barricading themselves inside, and vandalizing administrative offices. 

During the takeover, the 12 masked individuals – whose ages ranged from 19 to 32 – broke windows and furniture, splashed fake blood, and disabled security cameras. Damages were estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The perpetrators are charged with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass. They will be arraigned later this month at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. If convicted, they face incarceration and restitution.

“Dissent is American. Vandalism is criminal,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “There is a bright line between making a point and committing a crime. These defendants crossed the line into criminality when they broke into those offices, barricaded themselves inside, and started a calculated plan of destruction.”  

At around 5:30 a.m. on June 5, 2024, protests began outside the closed Building 10 on the Stanford campus – the site of the university president’s office. Some individuals spray painted the outside of the building, while someone shattered a window. Before the cameras were covered, multiple suspects were recorded carrying equipment into Building 10 and barricading doorways using ladders, furniture, and additional equipment they brought into the building. Suspects inside the building began recording social media videos that listed a series of demands. 

The Stanford University Department of Public Safety responded to the scene and requested help from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and the Palo Alto Police Department. Breaking through the barricades, law enforcement officers began making entry at approximately 7:00 a.m. Thirteen individuals that included current and former Stanford students were arrested inside the previously barricaded building.

The interior of Building 10 suffered significant damage during the occupation. This included damage caused by forced entry into offices, ransacked office space, damaged doorframes and furniture, and items damaged by fake blood spattered throughout the building. The protesters’ backpacks containing food and tools were recovered inside the building. The tools included forcible entry tools such as an electric grinder, hammers, crowbars, chisels, screwdrivers, goggles, numerous straps, and cables.  

Multiple cell phones were recovered from the arrestees. All the phones, other than the one seized from a student reporter, were searched pursuant to signed search warrants. A review of the cell phone data resulted in detailed communication about the planning and commission of the conspiracy, including encrypted text-messages and links to detailed operational plans. The communication indicated the suspects met on multiple occasions, days in advance, to conspire to take over the building. It also contained discussions about pre-operational surveillance, forcing entry into the building, using lookouts to alert suspects to responding law enforcement, wearing layered clothing and/or changing clothes in an attempt to avoid being identified, bringing supplies and tools required for the takeover, and practicing barricading techniques. The communication included a “DO-IT-YOURSELF OCCUPATION GUIDE,” which included the following quote:

“Vandalism? Occupying a space removes the space from the capitalist landscape. A group may decide it is better to destroy or vandalize a space than to return it to its usual role in good condition. The role of vandalism may be different in each situation, but it should not be disowned outright.”

A student journalist, who had embedded with the protesters but did not participate in the vandalism, was not charged.

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