Thousands of people were arrested in university protests. For students, the consequences were just beginning

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Since her arrest during a protest at the University of Massachusetts, Annie McGrew has been oscillating between two sets of hearings: one for misdemeanor charges she faces in court and another for violations of the university’s code of conduct.

This has prevented the graduate student from working to finish her thesis in economics.

“It’s been a very tough few months for me since my arrest,” McGrew said. “I never imagined the UMass administration would respond this way.”

This spring, some 3,200 people were arrested during a wave of pro-Palestinian camps protesting the war in Gaza. While some universities ended the demonstrations by reaching agreements with students or simply waiting for them to leave, others called the police when protesters refused to leave.

Many students have already seen those charges dismissed, but the cases of hundreds of people on the campuses where the highest number of arrests were recorded remain unresolved, according to an analysis of data compiled by The Associated Press and partner newsrooms.

In addition to legal limbo, those students face uncertainty about their academic careers. Some are standing firm, saying they would have made the same decision to protest even if they had known the consequences. Others have had to deal with the fallout from the arrests and harbor doubts about whether to remain enrolled in college.

In St. Louis, Valencia Alvarez is waiting to hear what will happen with the possible charges she and 99 others could face for an April 27 protest that lasted less than half a day at Washington University.

Twenty-three of those arrested were students. In June, the university gave them two options: They could appear at a hearing with the Office of Student Conduct or they could “accept responsibility” and forgo further investigation. Alvarez chose the first option.

“I really don’t plan on staying quiet about this, and I think that’s the goal of the second option,” Alvarez said.

The demonstrations spread across public and private universities, on campuses large and small, urban and rural. As students return this fall, universities are bracing for more protests against Israel’s military and Hamas, and are strategizing about tactics, including when to call in law enforcement — decisions that have had lasting repercussions.

Some university leaders said calling in police was the only option to end protests that disrupted graduation ceremonies, disrupted campus life and included instances of anti-Semitic signs and language.

Student groups and some faculty members have criticized university officials for inviting police onto campus. They say police actions often trampled peaceful protests with unnecessary levels of force.

What charges are worth filing?

The vast majority of cases against protesters, who range from students and faculty to people with no ties to the universities, involve misdemeanors or lower-level charges, such as trespassing, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

More serious charges were brought against protesters who occupied a building on the Columbia University campus, where some were initially arrested on trespassing charges. Those charges were later reduced to misdemeanors, and charges against dozens of students were dropped. In a move criticized by Jewish groups, prosecutors said there was a lack of evidence linking them to acts of property damage and that none of the students had criminal records.

Prosecutors in several cities are still considering whether to file charges, but in many cases, authorities have indicated they have no intention of filing charges for minor infractions, according to an AP review of data on campuses with at least 100 arrests.

In upstate New York, the Ulster County district attorney asked judges to dismiss 129 cases stemming from arrests at the State University of New York at New Paltz.

“I have concluded that it is best to dismiss these charges now and relieve all concerned and the courts of any further burden, expense and disbursement of scarce public and judicial resources,” District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji wrote in June.

The New Paltz students said they were sitting with their arms linked when officers took them away on May 2.

“It was handled very brutally,” said Maddison Tirado, a student whose trespassing charge was dismissed. Tirado said the protesters were treated as if authorities viewed them as “little terrorists running around.”

One student protester, Ezra Baptist, said he was taken to a hospital with a concussion and a cut after he was thrown forward and hit his head during his arrest by state police. He was supposed to avoid looking at screens because of his injury and was unable to complete a class he needed to graduate in May.

State police said anyone who believes officers acted inappropriately should file a complaint so an investigation can be carried out. Another law enforcement agency on the scene, the county sheriff’s office, said officers showed restraint and that one officer was injured when protesters threw bottles.

Tensions have been high on university campuses since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking about 250 hostages. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities.

Arrests put students’ degrees on hold

For some students, the impact on their academic careers has affected them more than any legal risk.

At the University of Washington, conduct hearings for arrested students have recently begun but have not yet resulted in disciplinary decisions. Meanwhile, Alvarez does not have the master’s degree in public health that he would have earned by now had it not been for his arrest.

Alvarez, who hopes to pursue a career in social justice and community organizing, said she has no regrets, but that doesn’t mean the protest didn’t come at a cost.

“I want that degree,” Alvarez said. “I worked four jobs during my two years at Wash U so I could pay my tuition without having to take out loans.”

At Emerson College in Boston, 118 people were arrested when police were asked to enforce a city ordinance banning camping on public property. All were charged with disorderly conduct and granted “pre-arraid release,” meaning no charges will be filed in exchange for 40 hours of community service, prosecutors said.

Owen Buxton, an Emerson student, said he suffered a concussion when police pushed him into a bronze statue. It was his second arrest of the semester for protesting the war in Gaza. The experience made it difficult for him to concentrate or participate in classes.

“That stifled all my creativity. I didn’t do anything for months, which is unusual for me,” said Buxton, a filmmaker.

Emerson allowed students to take the semester pass or fail following an outcry over the arrests.

A Boston Police Department spokesman said anyone with concerns can file complaints with the internal affairs bureau. The department had previously said there were no injuries during Emerson’s arrests.

A settling of scores for inviting the police onto campus

On the UMass campus in Amherst, students recalled a peaceful protest with singing and dancing before police arrived. It was the second tent encampment students had set up that week. UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes said he ordered the raid after discussions with protesters failed.

“Let me be clear: involving law enforcement is a last resort,” Reyes wrote to the campus community.

The law enforcement response, which included 117 police vehicles on campus, unsettled protesters. McGrew recalls seeing police in riot gear charging into the crowd of students. A total of 134 people were arrested.

As the detainees were being processed at the university’s sports stadium, graduate student Charles Sullivan, who is transgender, said they felt humiliated by campus police. One officer, Sullivan said, forced them to describe their genitals out loud in order to gain access to the bathroom.

Sullivan decided to drop out of college to pursue her studies, in part because of the arrest. After finishing a master’s degree in anthropology, Sullivan will move to Ohio in the fall to pursue a doctorate, rather than continuing at UMass.

“I think, overall, I’m ready to get out of this place,” Sullivan said.

Many campus organizations have rebuked Reyes for deploying police, including the UMass faculty senate, which passed a vote of no confidence in the chancellor.

In June, Reyes announced a task force to review campus policies on protests, including the land use policy for which many arrestees were charged with violating.

The group is just beginning its work, said Anthony Paik, a faculty senate member and co-chair of the task force. He would have more information by the end of August, he said, just before the start of the new school year.

___

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from several private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with charities, a list of funders and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

___

Associated Press writers Jake Offenhartz in New York, Michael Hill in Albany, New York, and Michael Melia in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.