Over 30 SUNY-Buffalo Law School Faculty Press University To Drop Charges Against Pro-Palestine Protesters

New York Law Journal, UBuffalo Law School Faculty Petition School to Drop Charges Against Protesters:

University of Buffalo School of Law (SUNY) faculty members are making efforts to petition the UB president to drop charges against protesters who were arrested on May 1.

The 15 people who were arrested, which includes seven students, are due to be arraigned June 4 in Amherst Town Court, according to the letter, which was recently published by the university newspaper, The Spectrum.

The May 24 letter, addressed to UB President Satish K. Tripathi, contained 31 signatories as of May 25, according to The Spectrum.

The faculty wrote that the administration should drop all charges because—with the one exception of an arrest for resisting arrest—all offenses charged were violations consisting of loitering (Penal Law Section 240.35), trespass (Penal Law Section 140.05) and disorderly conduct (Penal Law Section 240.20), which are classified under New York law as violations, not crimes.

Further, “it would reflect poorly on the university to continue pursuing these criminal charges which have little or no legal substance to them. Nor is doing so necessary to maintain good public order,” according to the letter.

On Thursday afternoon, Tripathi sent an email to members of the UB School of Law faculty responding to their letter stating, “We have already requested—to the Office of the Amherst Town Attorney—adjournment in contemplation of dismissal of charges against UB students.”

However, according to Kim Diana Connolly, a UB Law professor and letter signatory, “UB’s administration has in fact not requested that charges against all protesters be fully dropped, but instead has asked that the student protesters’ cases be ‘adjourned in contemplation of dismissal’ (an ACD) at a later date. It is unclear whether the administration has made the same request for non-students,” she said. “I believe the appropriate resolution is to fully drop the charges for all, rather than to leave protesters with a record in the short term for legally questionable charges that implicate their free speech rights.” ...

Two previous attempts had been made by the UB faculty and the Faculty Senate to get charges dropped against the students.