Prosecutors Drop Charges Northwestern Filed Against Own Staff, Student

EVANSTON, IL — Prosecutors have dropped all charges against Northwestern University staffers accused of obstructing the school's security forces during skirmishes surrounding the establishment of an on-campus encampment in April.

Assistant professors Alithia Zamantakis and Steven Thrasher, librarian Josh Honn and an unnamed graduate student had been facing class A misdemeanors, a conviction for which is punishable by a maximum of a year in jail and $2,500 in fines.

The decision to drop the charges Friday reportedly came just one day after the charges made headlines.

"This decision is consistent with our office’s policy to decline prosecution against peaceful protestors," said Tandra Simonton, chief communications officer for the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.

Northwestern spokesperson Jon Yates told Patch the four people cited were not peacefully protesting.

Instead, he contended, they were obstructing the university's security staff, one of whom was injured.

"That officer was treated at a local hospital after he was bitten on the hand," Yates said.

No one was charged with biting that officer. And when asked if any of the four people charged were believed to have bitten him, Yates said in an email he could not comment.

"Northwestern strongly supports peaceful demonstrations but does not support activity that disrupts University operations, violates the law, intimidates or harasses members of the community, or, as was the case in this instance, injures a member of our police force who is working to protect all members of our campus," Yates said.

University and railroad police are exempt from the same transparency and public records rules that all other law enforcement agencies in Illinois must follow.

That means there is no way to confirm or refute claims by the private university's private police force.

While other agencies must provide the public copies of their reports and body-worn camera recordings, Northwestern and other such institutions keep them hidden.

---

Friday's dismissal is at least the second time in the past six months that the Cook County State's Attorney's Office has abandoned the pursuit of criminal charges filed by the university's private police force in connection with a pro-Palestinian protest.

In February, following the distribution of anti-Israel parody front pages of the school newspaper, the school's security staff filed misdemeanor charges of "theft of advertising services" against two students.

Facing a threatened boycott from student groups, the publisher of the student-run The Daily Northwestern got a lawyer to ask prosecutors to drop the charges. In a statement, the chair of the publisher's board suggested school security staffers did not disclose that they would pursue criminal charges.

Yates, the university spokesperson, did not answer a question regarding how many other times this year Northwestern has filed misdemeanor charges against someone without the approval of prosecutors, who have then declined to prosecute.

Northwestern's private police force can file misdemeanor cases directly in Cook County court. Only felony cases require the prior approval of prosecutors.

Honn, the librarian who told reporters he was knocked down by the officers he was accused of obstructing, told Northwestern's Queer Media Association that he was relieved that prosecutors “saw them for what they were" and dropped the charges.

"I’m still disturbed by the Palestine exception on campus,” Honn said. “And that the University and its police force chose to go down this dangerous road.”

According to Yates, university officials have started separate, internal proceedings against the four people they sought to charge with a crime.

"Now that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has declined to pursue charges, Northwestern has initiated its own [disciplinary] process," he said. "Any individual found in violation of a University policy will be held accountable."

Earlier: Northwestern Presses Charges Against Professors, Librarian, Student For April Gaza Protest