Swarthmore College says it sanctioned students who violated conduct code during pro-Palestinian protests
A second-semester senior was suspended, while 13 other students received probation, reprimands or warnings after hearings were held on disciplinary charges from October 2023 to March 2024.
Swarthmore College said it has disciplined 14 students, including suspending one, for violations of its code of conduct in connection with pro-Palestinian protest activity on campus from October 2023 to March 2024.
Other sanctions issued this month included probation, reprimands, and warnings, and all students have the right to appeal, the college said.
“None of the charges that led to these findings were for peaceful protests, nor were the charges related to the content of what was said or expressed,” said college spokesperson Alisa Giardinelli. “The charges that led to these findings were for specific actions and behaviors that violated the Student Code of Conduct.”
Among those actions was the use of a bullhorn close to staff members, some of whom sought medical treatment for ongoing hearing damage, the college said in December. Swarthmore had charged several students with “assault, endangerment or infliction of physical harm” in those cases.
The Swarthmore Palestine Coalition, a group of student organizations on campus, said this week that the student who received the suspension was a second-semester senior who was to graduate in two months and was sanctioned for assault that entailed the use of a megaphone indoors. The student is “an independent, first-generation, low-income student who risks homelessness and financial precarity if the college does not rescind its decision,” the group said.
The bullhorn charges brought complaints last semester from students and several professors who supported them. They questioned whether the noise could have harmed anyone and said the assault charges were just another tactic by the college to silence protesters.
Protests over the discipline have been held on campus, including last month, when members of Students for Justice in Palestine took over the first floor of a Swarthmore building for several hours. The college has since placed SJP on interim suspension, asserting that during the protest bullhorns were used indoors and staff members’ offices were broken into. School officials said students who violated the conduct code would be held accountable.
The student who was suspended is appealing, said Adi Chattopadhyay, a sophomore from California who is part of Swarthmore’s SJP. Other students are trying to find housing and support for the student, he said. The suspended student declined to comment. Two other students who are losing their campus jobs as a result of their sanctions also are appealing, he said.
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Chattopadhyay, a computer science and history major who faces an assault charge for megaphone use, said his hearing has not been held yet.
“These sanctions came out literally days after the Trump tweet about federal funding,” Chattopadhyay said, referring to President Donald Trump’s March 4 threat to stop all federal funding for colleges that allow illegal protest. “It’s very clear that they are trying to align themselves with the Trump administration.”
The college, however, contended that the sanctions and the timing had nothing to do with the Trump administration, adding that students were notified of their charges in May.
“Swarthmore values and supports individuals’ rights to express their views and engage in peaceful protest and dissent,” Giardinelli said. “But those rights do not extend so far as to infringe on the ability of other students, faculty, and staff members to fully engage in the life of the campus, nor do they give license for protesters to disrupt the essential operations of the college.”
The college, she said, informed students how to express their views without violating school rules and gave them verbal and written warnings before proceeding with disciplinary charges.
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Students and some professors are especially concerned given the Trump administration’s recent decision to arrest a former Columbia University student who helped lead pro-Palestinian protests and place him in federal detention.
“Everyone is definitely feeling that,” Chattopadhyay said. “Everyone sees what is happening, and the school won’t go so far as to condemn ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement]. Is Swarthmore College willing to turn us over to the federal government? It seems like they are.”
Another student, who asked not to be named, fearing retribution, said: “Putting sanctions on students and publicizing it does put Swarthmore in a very vulnerable position for the FBI to come in or the Trump administration to investigate ‘what’s going on here.’”
That, the student said, could expose students who were not part of the protests but are international students.
Giardinelli said the federal government has not sought information from the college on students being disciplined.
Some professors are concerned, too, about students potentially being put at risk by the college’s decision to sanction them, said Edwin Mayorga, an associate professor of educational studies.
“There’s a good number of faculty who have been disappointed that the hearings persisted,” he said, given what has happened at Columbia University.
He said he is very concerned about protecting students and student data.
The Trump administration already has canceled $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia, an Ivy League institution, asserting the school failed to handle complaints of antisemitism as protests mounted on the campus last spring. Swarthmore was among 60 colleges threatened with sanctions by the U.S. Department of Education earlier this month amid ongoing investigations into antisemitic activity on their campuses.
Swarthmore students who were sanctioned are predominantly students of color, with Arab and Muslim students receiving the most severe sanctions, the Swarthmore coalition said.
Twenty-four individuals, some of whom have since graduated, received “outcome” letters regarding their disciplinary cases, the college said.
Some students received multiple sanctions, and there were seven cases where students were found “not responsible,” the college said. For minor misconduct charges, there were five probation sanctions, three reprimands, and six warnings. And for major misconduct, there were seven probation sanctions, one reprimand, and one suspension.