CWRU (Case Western Reserve University) is expelling pro-Palestinian student activists.
Between November 2024 and February 2025, 11 students and activists at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) were arrested and charged with multiple felonies for their role in a demonstration for Palestine. The protest involved painting buildings and posting flyers to highlight CWRU’s complicity in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians. For these actions, the university has claimed $400,000 in damages, causing substantial financial burden on the young activists and their families.
The disciplinary actions taken by CWRU go beyond the courtroom. Three students have already been expelled. Other seniors now face expulsion despite being so close to receiving their degrees and despite the university already receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution, forcing several activists into debt to pay back the alleged damages. One of these seniors was expelled simply for the role of driving a car. Another of the seniors was offered their diploma, but only under the cruel and speculative conditions that they disclose the names of other individuals they think were involved. CWRU seems to be acting with animus and pursuing vengeance by seeking expulsions, even of those with minimal involvement, filing complaints with other universities to maximize harm to students from other local universities, and attempting to smear students with false claims of antisemitism.
This witch-hunt campaign of punishment reflects racist retaliation rather than accountability, and the university’s long history of anti-Palestinian racism, where Palestinian students and those advocating for Palestinian human rights are treated more harshly and experience more repression than other students and advocacy for other causes. CWRU’s decision to over-charge its own students, expel them, and attempt to dox them based largely upon their racial identity and political affiliation lays bare the administration and President Eric Kaler’s racist attempts to silence Palestine advocacy, and reflects poorly on the institution for higher-learning’s ability to engage with and respect the racially, ethnically, and politically diverse student body.
We demand amnesty for the CWRU 11. Stop criminalizing expression. We must protect our students. We must demand amnesty now. Take action to support the students targeted by the Racist Anti-Palestinian CWRU Administration today!
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