Several Washington University students who were suspended after the April pro-Palestine campus protests interviewed with Student Life to recount their experiences with WashU’s disciplinary process, discuss their grievances with the administration, and provide updates on their enrollment status.

Twenty-six students were suspended for their involvement in the April campus protests: three for their participation in the April 13th Bear Day demonstration and 23 for their actions at the April 27th protest and encampment. 

Senior Andrew de las Alas, who was suspended for his role at the April 27 protest, said the disciplinary process and communication from the University was “disorganized” and “disorienting.”

Another student suspended on April 27, who requested anonymity for privacy reasons and will be referred to as Student A, expressed frustration with the University’s handling of the protest and suspensions. “I have so much built-up resentment against the school. I just don’t know where to place it,” they said.

Most of the suspended students who have not yet graduated, including Student A, had their conduct cases resolved over the summer, returned to campus this fall, and are now on probation. 

However, R.J. Lucas, one of three students suspended after the April 13 protest, said that all Bear Day protesters have been barred from returning to campus for the Fall 2024 semester.

Lucas added that it took him and the other students over three months to receive a final decision on whether their suspensions would be extended into the following school year.

“At the end of July is when I and the two other students arrested and suspended [on April 13] decided to send a joint email to the University being like, ‘Where’s our response? It’s been way too long — the [suspension] decision is important for us to plan out our future careers,’” Lucas said. 

Lucas has one semester left until graduation, but has since decided that he will not return to WashU.  

“My decision to transfer out is firm on the basis that WashU, for me, was not a good environment,” Lucas said. “The culture of repression by the University really made it a very unsafe space for me, both physically and psychologically.”

Lucas described an incident with the Washington University Police Department (WUPD) that particularly bothered him. 

“A student reached out to me saying that they were profiled,” he said. “Someone who kind of looks like me — really they’re just brown and have curly hair like me. But they were profiled and asked by WUPD if they were me because [the officers] thought I was on campus and had breached the rules of my suspension.”

Student Life contacted the student, senior Lorenzo Prila. Prila described the interaction he had with WUPD, during which officers mistakenly asked if he was “R.J. Lewis.” 

“I’m walking on campus. Six police officers tail me, surround me, and ask if I’m ‘R.J. Lewis,’” Prila said. “Luckily, I’m not. They ask for ID, and I have to give both my driver’s [license] and student ID…still not R.J. Lewis, evidently, so they let me go.” 

In response to Prila’s statement, Julie Flory, Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications, told Student Life that WUPD officers are dedicated to treating all WashU community members with respect. 

“[They] would never want anyone to feel like they’re being profiled in any way,” Flory wrote in an email to Student Life. “Any case of mistaken identity, while unfortunate, would certainly have been unintentional.” 

Lucas said that his decision to transfer schools was solidified upon learning of Prila’s interaction with the police. 

“I think the incident, for me, confirmed that there was over-policing [on campus],” Lucas said.

Four students who were suspended because of their arrests on April 27 spoke to Student Life about their experiences with the University administration.

One of the students, who requested anonymity for privacy reasons and who will be referred to as Student B, said that her suspension led to her experiencing significant emotional distress, ostracization from campus communities, and strains in relationships with certain family members.  

“I feel like [the University] put us through hell,” she said. 

All of the students who were suspended for their participation in the April 27 protest received their letters of temporary suspension from Dean of Students Rob Wild on April 28. 

Student A shared a copy of their suspension letter with Student Life, in which Wild wrote that Student A was “temporarily suspended” from WashU. 

“Your continued presence on campus poses a substantial threat to the ability of faculty and other students to continue their normal University functions and activities,” Wild wrote. 

Wild’s letter also described the terms of Student A’s suspension, which included that they were prohibited from being on any WashU-leased or WashU-owned property and barred from participating in University activities. 

Wild said he met with every student suspended after April 27 soon after the suspension letters were sent out. 

“Usually, when a student is arrested for anything, the University will initiate something called a temporary suspension,” Wild said. “A temporary suspension is a claim by the University that a student’s conduct has been harmful enough that the University needs to suspend their activity from being on campus.” 

The WashU Student Conduct Code at the time required the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards (OSCCS) to notify students of charges “within a reasonable time” after the temporary suspensions were imposed. Notably, the Student Conduct Code was revised in July 2024, but no significant changes were made to the section pertaining to temporary suspensions.

During the summer, arrested students interviewed by Student Life received two main communications from the University. They received an official list of preliminary charges in early May and options to proceed in late June.

“[In early May] we got our first letter of alleged charges, and we didn’t get a follow-up letter or anything until June 28…people would email and ask when we would have more information, and the default response was, ‘We are waiting for WUPD to finish their investigation,’” Student A said.

According to Wild, OSCCS worked with WUPD to assemble evidence and move student conduct cases forward as quickly as possible.

“The Office of Student Conduct was immediately ready to process cases [after April 27],” Wild said. “A mass arrest, like what happened on April 27, takes a long time for any law enforcement agency to process.”

For administrators, Wild said the goal was to conclude investigations and decide on disciplinary measures by the beginning of the 2024-25 academic year.

“We knew that some of the people were hoping to be able to attend the classes in the fall, and they wouldn’t have been able to under the terms of their temporary suspension,” Wild said. 

By mid-August at the latest, all April 27 protestors that Student Life spoke to had their suspensions lifted. When asked if students faced more severe punishments, like expulsion, Wild said that the University could not comment on specific student conduct cases.

The OSCCS summarized the students’ charges in the email they sent to the students in late June. One suspended student, who requested anonymity and will be called Student C, disagreed with the characterization of the charges they received.

“Their version of events made it seem very much like we were maliciously moving to cut [a police officer] off from other cops, and that me not leaving was attempting to block his path, which was not true…that was their characterization,” Student C said.

The same late-June email presented suspended students with two options to proceed. They could participate in student-conduct hearings with Nicole Gore, the Associate Dean for Student Conduct and Community Standards. Alternatively, they could immediately accept responsibility for their violations, forgo further investigations or hearings, and be placed on probation for one academic year. According to the email, probation means that students will face a one-semester suspension if they again violate any conduct policies that they have previously breached. 

“There’s no pressure to [accept the probation option], but sometimes students want to put something behind them and move on,” Wild said. 

Students A and B decided to participate in the conduct meetings, while De las Alas and Student C  accepted the probationary period.  

De las Alas said it was ironic that he faced disciplinary measures just weeks after receiving the  University’s Ethic of Service Award. 

“I was [commended] by the University for my contributions to the St. Louis community and my values of service,” de las Alas said. “I think it’s just so mind-boggling that the values they cultivate in the classroom and on campus [are what] pushed me to hold the University accountable, and they saw that fit to respond with police action.”

Student C accepted the one-year probation because they did not feel the appeal process would be fair.

“It wasn’t a hearing in front of a board of faculty and students. You just go and talk to Dean Gore and she makes a decision,” Student C said. “I couldn’t imagine a situation where I had that hearing and she decided, ‘Oh, yeah, you’re right.’”

University administrators see things differently.

“It wasn’t like the police came in and just arrested everybody who was there,” Wild said. “There were many warnings that were given on April 27 over a period of hours — that people were trespassing, violating campus policies, and if they didn’t leave, they were going to be arrested.”

Wild said that although no university wants to see their students arrested, there are baseline policies that they must hold people accountable to. 

“That’s why we try to give warnings and give people the chance to correct behavior at a demonstration — so that they’re not in violation,” he said.

Students A and B pursued conduct hearings with OSCCS and were accompanied at their hearings by  lawyers from ArchCity Defenders. 

Before Student A’s hearing with Gore, they requested copies of the evidence that would be presented during the meeting, but were told they would have to wait to see the evidence until the meeting.

“They presented a video that was a one-minute compilation from body cams…that was basically me from different angles. The video would pause and circle me in red. I was not allowed to have that video, even though it’s about me,” Student A said. “It felt like my presence [at the protest] alone was the problem.”

University officials said that the conduct proceedings and disciplinary actions taken against arrested student protesters were appropriate and aligned with WashU’s policy regarding on-campus demonstrations.

“We had dozens of demonstrations last year on campus that didn’t result in any conduct action or any arrests or anything like that, [which] we do every year,” Wild said. “It’s only when the line gets crossed, a class gets disrupted, an admissions event gets disrupted — that’s where the University will take action.”

At the start of the fall semester, the OSCCS posted demonstration rules across campus and prepared pamphlets that detailed WashU’s policy for demonstrations and protests.

Student A did not get a resolution to their conduct case until August.

“When there was uncertainty whether I would be back, that was a lot of anxiety for me and for my family,” Student A said. “I was so stressed.”

Some of the students who were arrested continue to have demands for the University.

“As far as the arrests go, the University needs to admit its fault,” de las Alas said. “[In University emails, there was] no mention of [professor Steve Tamari’s] nine ribs that those police officers cracked”

Student Life could not verify the number of protesters injured on April 27, but local and national news outlets confirmed that Tamari, a Palestinian-American and professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, was arrested and severely injured at the protest. 

Flory told Student Life that three police officers were injured at the protest. “[Police officers experienced] a severe concussion, a broken finger, and a groin injury,” Flory said. “There were no other injuries reported to us that day.” 

Several suspended students who returned to campus this fall have contrasting feelings about coming back. For Student C, the opportunity to remain at WashU is a relief. “I’m just happy to be back,” they said. 

Student B had ambiguous feelings, expressing frustration with the University’s attempt to ignore the events and aftermath of April 27. 

“It feels like the administration is pretending [that] nothing ever happened,” Student B said. “There’s no attempt to reconcile with us in any way.”