Stanford Student Journalist Arrested At Protest Will Not Be Charged: DA

STANFORD, CA — A Stanford University student journalist arrested while covering a pro-Palestinian protest last spring will not face charges, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

Dilan Gohill was reporting for the Stanford Daily around 5:30 a.m. June 5 when a group of protesters broke into and barricaded themselves inside a closed administrative building containing the president’s office, breaking doorframes and furniture, spattering fake blood and covering a security camera, according to the district attorney’s office. Gohill published at least one story from inside the barricade, the district attorney’s office said.

“This Office supports a free press and recognizes that the law gives reporters latitude to do their jobs in keeping the public informed,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a news release. “We have no evidence that this student did anything other than cover this event as a journalist.”

Lawyer Max Szabo posted in a thread on X that Gohill was wearing a red Stanford Daily sweatshirt and a visible press pass at the time of the incident, and that the delay in a charging decision had a chilling effect on student journalists.

“@Stanford declined to pursue disciplinary charges against Mr. Gohill in January,” Szabo posted. “Stanford Department of Public Safety’s months-long delay in turning over this investigation to prosecutors should be viewed as suspicious, incompetent, or both.”

The district attorney’s office is continuing to review the conduct of the other students involved in the barricade as it considers whether to file criminal charges, the news release said, adding damage from the barricade totaled over $700,000.