Third-year USC law student Elizabeth Howell-Egan escaped arrest while attending two pro-Palestinian campuses Cantonments in the spring. But more than four months after police cleared the camps, she said she faces repercussions worse than a misdemeanor court charge: She’s banned from campus and classes as part of a suspension that could last until next spring.
Howell-Egan is in the middle of a university “Resolution Process” for allegedly violating the USC code of conduct during the protest — obstructing campus security officers, failing to comply with officers’ instructions and disorderly conduct.
As the fall semester begins, universities are still grappling with the aftermath of a tumultuous spring. 3,000 students were arrested across the country Police broke up camps where pro-Palestinian protesters demanded universities sever financial ties with Israel. In many of these cases — including hundreds in California — low-level misdemeanor charges were never filed or were dropped.
But the situation is different on campus, where administrators say protesters endangered safety and violated codes of conduct, including damaging property, blocking driveways and building access and disobeying orders to disperse. Disciplinary proceedings continue as students deal with ongoing suspensions and holds on their records, unsure of the consequences to their education.
USC and other campus officials contacted by the Times said they could not discuss details of student conduct cases, citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Amid widespread calls for amnesty in the spring, the University of California
Regents confirmed that the violation of the protest without any consequences was “inconsequential” UC Guidelines,
“USC is really leaning on this idea that the process itself is the punishment,” said Howell-Egan, who has also been accused of being a leader in USC’s protests, though she described her role as a public liaison for the police. “I don’t know if their intention is to make me regret our activism, but it actually reinforces my beliefs.”
Repentance letter
As part of the process, the university’s Community Expectations Office instructed him to write a four-page reflection essay about his behavior.
Other students have received similar assignments, to be submitted at the end of September. They are to write “personal thoughts, experiences, and insights” from the protests and “how you might make different decisions in the future.” According to a copy of the instructions shared with the Times, the papers “may not serve to justify your own actions or evaluate the actions of others” and must be “double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman font with one-inch margins.”
Howell-Egan said she did not expect the protest to lead to anything. “But this is all absurd,” she said. A hearing date has not been set, and she is applying for leave to avoid missing more classes.
“People are being killed in Gaza,” he said. “That’s why we protested. Is that wrong?”
What happens at a conduct hearing?
Unlike court cases, student conduct proceedings can vary widely in style and timelines by school and are shielded from public view by privacy laws. Officials at USC and other California universities said they are committed to a timely and fair process.
Some students are in the midst of this process at California campuses — including USC, UCLA, UC Irvine and cal poly humboldt — said the cases against them are unclear — and many graduates said they are still awaiting diplomas because the ban on their records has not been lifted.
Conduct proceedings have existed for decades to adjudicate violations of campus codes, which students routinely sign or are presented with during orientation. Many colleges have conduct offices with full-time staff who handle caseloads, serving as guidance counselors, investigators, and judges.
Experts said schools are given wide latitude in filing internal charges in connection with protests, including in defining the standard of evidence, the length of investigations and discipline.
“This year there has undoubtedly been a year-over-year increase in student violations,” said Brian Glick, a board member of the Student Conduct Administration Association who also serves as director of student conduct and community standards at Adelphi University on Long Island, N.Y.
He said the procedures at USC and other schools — notices to students, interim suspensions, meetings with conduct officers or panels before a final decision, remorse essays and an appeals process — are common practices.
“As long as the university is content neutral — meaning it treats one type of protest the same as another when it comes to violations — and enforces its policies equally for students, then they are within standards,” Glick said.
“The purpose is to balance campus safety with the academic mission. We’re trying to instill the idea of being a good community citizen,” said Glick, who added that his campus has seen no arrests or student discipline due to pro-Palestine activism.
At UC Irvine, five students are fighting the university in state court after suing it in August over campus disciplinary actions against them, alleging that the protest-related suspensions were “in clear violation of the university’s own rules and the minimum standards of due process applicable to public institutions.”
The students said in the lawsuit that they went to hearings where the university “presented no evidence and made no meaningful findings” that they were a threat to campus. They said the suspensions, which led to lost shifts in university housing and UC Irvine jobs, continue “with no end in sight.”
What universities tell about discipline
Campus officials provided the Times with extensive information about their conduct with protesters.
recently Update your website When asked about the protests in the spring, USC said 74 students were convicted of campus violations between the two camps, resulting in interim suspensions for some of the groups over the summer. USC said many of those cases have been resolved.
Some students have been “given formal warnings that will be removed from the student’s disciplinary record upon graduation.” Other cases “involve more complex or serious circumstances that have passed the interview stage but have not yet been completed.”
Like other major California campuses, USC filed charges against students based on “abundant evidence.” On its website, it says that means “the reviewer or panel decides that, based on the information gathered, it is more likely than not that the student is responsible for the violation.” The threshold is similar to that used in civil cases and is significantly lower than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard for conviction in criminal cases.
UCLA and UC Irvine declined to say how many students were charged, but said the guidelines promise due process and the right to appeal. arrested More than 300 people on campus May and June. Many of these were not students. There were also students who escaped arrest but violated campus policies.
But Pomona CollegeAll cases since the spring have been resolved, a spokesperson said.
At Cal Poly Humboldt, where the campus shut down in April because of student occupation of administrative buildings, a spokesperson said administrators issued 93 interim suspensions. Most of the cases have been resolved and some are pending. The consequences ranged from warnings to suspensions.
at Cal State L.A., where students built a camp and took over an administrative buildingAnonymity was a challenge in pursuing criminal or campus cases. “We have not taken disciplinary action. Those involved took steps to conceal their identities,” said university spokesman Eric Hollins.
What students say
While the colleges remained mum on many details, students shared their experiences with the Times.
Like Howell-Egan, Rachel, a USC student majoring in humanities, also received an interim suspension for attending a camp. It was lifted just before the fall semester began on Aug. 26 — with the condition that she sign the student handbook and write an apology.
Rachel, who did not want to reveal her last name for fear of retribution for her activism, said she accepted both requests in order to return to the classroom.
She said, “I can write whatever they want me to write. But, at the end of the day, it doesn’t change my values.”
At UCLA, student Dylan Kupsch received university papers with his charges on Aug. 29. The charges stem from a June 10 incident where he was arrested along with 24 others who had set up a camp between Dodd Hall and the School of Law, according to police. He said UCLA also accused him of disrupting a final exam, which school officials said was a result of the protest, and obstructing the movement of students and staff.
Kupsch, who is pursuing a PhD in computer science, said he was suspended from campus for about two weeks after his arrest. His student records have been put on hold. His next meeting with the Office of Student Conduct is Sept. 25, where he said he will review the alleged violations with a school official and have an opportunity to present his side of the story. But Kupsch worries that if the process goes on too long, the hold could prevent him from earning his master’s degree after the upcoming quarter.
Like others under scrutiny, Kupsch, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, said the process — and new, stricter protest rules on campus — “will not deter people from protesting.”
“I think they are trying to discourage people before the quarter starts, especially by informing us so late about what we have been accused of,” he said. “But the gravity of the situation in Gaza and our university’s complicity make it important for us to continue making noise.”
UC Irvine student Shenai Aini was arrested on May 15 when police in riot gear raided an encampment and seized a building. She and others said they played only minor roles in the activism.
A university citation against Aini, a rising senior, in June accused him of camping overnight, using sound without a permit and unlawful assembly, among other violations. As evidence, the document cited a student newspaper article, photos of student protesters, witness statements and a memo by campus police.
The problem, according to Aini, is that although he was supported by the camp that day, no evidence specifically identifies him.
“Nowhere in the evidence do I appear to be connected to the alleged policy violations,” Anne replied to the university, denying the allegations. “My name in the evidence is simply listed among the names of individuals arrested.”
Aini, who is not a party to the lawsuit against UC Irvine, is preparing to return to class on Sept. 26. She has no disciplinary meetings scheduled.
“Right now I don’t know what I can and can’t do at school,” she said.
