Photo: Michael Estigoy/Flickr
More than seven months after student journalist Dilan Gohill was arrested while covering a campus protest, Stanford University President Jonathan Levin confirmed to the Student Press Law Center and the First Amendment Coalition on Monday that Gohill will not face campus disciplinary action.
Levin, however, declined to rescind the university’s previous endorsement of criminal prosecution of Gohill in response to SPLC and FAC’s calls for him to do so.
Gohill, while reporting for The Stanford Daily, was arrested June 5 while covering a pro-Palestinian demonstration where students barricaded themselves inside the president’s office. Shortly afterward, former Stanford President Richard Saller and Provost Jenny Martinez said they “fully support having [Gohill] be criminally prosecuted and referred to the office of Community Standards.”
Gohill told the San Francisco Chronicle that the university had not informed him the disciplinary process had concluded.
“I feel so great that it’s finally over after seven months,” he told the Chronicle. “Obviously, I feel anxious about pending criminal charges. But this is an incredible step forward. It lifts a load off my shoulders — not just for me, but for student journalists across the country who may be experiencing similar things.”
President Levin’s confirmation that the university process was “complete and resulted in no disciplinary action” came in response to a letter from SPLC and FAC urging him to end the disciplinary proceedings and call on the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office to decline charges against Gohill.
“Because of the university’s disappointing and very public role in this ordeal, we request that you publicly confirm that Gohill will face no university disciplinary action and that you urge the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office not to pursue charges against him,” the organizations wrote.
Despite the university’s prior endorsement of prosecution and pushback by alumni and others, Levin deferred to the District Attorney’s Office.
“The DA’s office will determine how to proceed based on the evidence it has assembled, and my intent is to leave that judgment up to the DA,” he wrote.
FAC Advocacy Director Ginny LaRoe told the Mercury News: “We are relieved Dilan no longer faces academic discipline for covering the news,” LaRoe said. “But it’s deeply troubling that the prospect of potential criminal prosecution lingers.”
SPLC Senior Counsel Mike Hiestand said Stanford’s response wasn’t enough.
“We are relieved that Dilan no longer must go to class worried it would be his last at Stanford,” he said. “It’s mind-boggling that the university took this long to acknowledge what should have been a simple decision. It’s shameful that a university seemingly committed to the ideals of free expression and a free press cannot be bothered to come to the aid of its own student facing potential felony charges for the act of reporting the news.
Levin’s response to SPLC and FAC is copied in full here.
Read the latest news coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle, KQED, Mercury News, and the Stanford Daily.