Academic disciplinary hearings have begun at Portland State University for students who were allegedly involved in protesting against genocide and the results are… not great.
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Academic disciplinary hearings have begun at Portland State University for students who were allegedly involved in protesting against genocide and the results are… not great.
So far I’ve talked to one student who graduated this summer and was set to go to law school, they are now being denied their transcripts and other documents forcing them to wait at least one year before they can attend law school. Another student I spoke with is barred from attending any more classes at PSU for one year and can’t utilize university housing. Additionally, with zero evidence that they were involved in the PSU library occupation, they are being forced to pay a $5,000 restitution for it. The administration claimed that they are receiving these consequences because they did an interview with someone *outside* of the library. In the disciplinary hearing outcome letter they received, the university stated that “the Library during this incident totaled at least $750,000. Restitution in this case has been calculated by dividing the cost of the damages by the number of individuals reported to have been involved in the occupation of the library.” So not only are they assuming this student was involved with the library, but they are also giving out this restitution based on a guess of how many people were inside the library. With zero evidence this person was inside, let alone that they were involved in any property destruction.
Both of these students were arrested a month after the library was raided by police and cleared out at an entirely separate location and have zero charges from law enforcement related to the library itself. Trials for the library and other protests on campus are set to begin this month.
