The so-called Stanford 11, the group of protesters accused of breaking into the office of the university president amid pro-Palestinian protests in June 2024, were scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

The group of current and former students, along with one Peninsula resident, were seen on social media videos storming the office of Stanford University President Richard Saller early on the morning of June 5, 2024, during the nationwide wave of college campus protests over the war in Gaza. They stand accused of felony vandalism and conspiracy to trespass, as KTVU reports, they were all due in court on Monday to face those charges, following a September 29 grand jury indictment.

That indictment, which defense attorneys say is political, supercedes an earlier, identical one issued in the spring, and it allows the district attorney to avoid a public preliminary hearing in which the validity of evidence may be questioned.

There were originally 13 people arrested in the occupation of the president's office. The current group of 12 consists of three former Stanford students, eight current students, and one Peninsula resident — and now that non-student will be testifying against the other 11, as KQED explains. The group ranges in age from 19 to 32.

One of those arrested, Dilan Gohill, a reporter for the campus newspaper, The Stanford Daily, was cleared of criminal charges, and the university cleared him of disciplinary charges as well.

Criticizing the DA's office, defense attorney Jeff Wozniak told KQED, "They made this a very public case. They decided to charge felonies, they decided to hold a press conference, they decided to seek national media coverage of this charging decision. And now to hold a secret non-public hearing to secure an indictment is just outrageous to me."

Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said during the initial indictment process in April, that he believed this case goes beyond the boundaries of free speech.

"Our speech must be protected, true," Rosen said, per KTVU. "But so must our schools, our workplaces and our homes. We’re here today because I will not allow people hiding behind masks to commit crimes."

As Rosen summarized it, "Dissent is American, vandalism is criminal."

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has taken a similar stance with Gaza protesters who blocked a critical artery into and out of the city, the Golden Gate Bridge, on April 15, 2024. Last November, a judge threw out the majority of the charges against that group, known as the GG26, and last month, the group was continuing to try to get their charges reduced.

The Stanford 11 are not likely to face jail time, but if they plead guilty, which Rosen is encouraging them to do, they will likely face sentences that include community service and restitution to the university.

John Richardson, the Peninsula resident who took part in the June 2024, has pleded no contest to his charges in exchange for probation and a diversion program, and he has been testifying for the prosecution.

Wozniak tells KQED that the university and the DA's office are "trying to chill the students' speech and trying to scare other students from demanding divestment from genocide, divestment from apartheid," and, he adds, "they’re not going to accomplish those goals of chilling these students’ political actions."

Related: Stanford Drops Disciplinary Case Against Student Journalist Covering Gaza Protest

Photo by Robert Gareth