Four educators at Northwestern University had their charges dropped Friday after being arrested on Thursday for obstructing law enforcement during a pro-Palestinian encampment in April, according to ABC 7 Chicago.
The four faculty members were previously charged with a Class A misdemeanor that would have landed them a $2,500 fine and up to a year in jail time, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported earlier this week.
The university created an agreement with the protesters in April before the protest, limiting the encampment to students, faculty and staff to ensure other community members could engage in different activities in the area. The demonstrations occurred on the Evanston campus in April, according to ABC 7 Chicago.
The Cook County State Attorney General’s office cited the policy of not charging peaceful protesters, ABC 7 Chicago reported.
“It’s a pretty mind-blowing experience to have your employer send their own police after you to arrest you within your place of employment,” Alithia Zamantakis, an assistant professor at Northwestern’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, who previously faced the charges, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Four individuals have been issued Class A misdemeanor citations by the Northwestern Police Department for obstructing a police officer during the protests on Deering Meadow earlier this year,” [University spokesman Jon] Yates told the Daily Caller News Foundation earlier this week.
“While the University permits peaceful demonstrations, it does not permit activity that disrupts University operations, violates the law, or includes the intimidation or harassment of members of the community,” Yates previously told the DCNF.
One professor attempted to file a police report during the April encampment against another instructor for shoving police officers trying to make arrests, the DCNF reported. One student was also assaulted by an anti-Israel protester.
(Featured image credit: Screenshot/X@brshaevsky)
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