Last month, the final criminal charges were dismissed against protesters who were arrested during the April occupation of the University of New Mexico Student Union Building in support of Palestine.
Months after the event, protesters are reflecting on its impact.
UNM alum and community organizer Siihasin Hope was the only protester who had damages attached to their criminal trespass charge. Hope’s attorney’s office confirmed via email on Nov. 13 that all their charges were dismissed with prejudice.
A judge's decision to dismiss with prejudice stops the lawsuit from being brought before the court again, according to New Mexico Courts.
A total of 21 protesters were arrested during last semester’s 23-day encampment in support of Palestine, including the 16 who were arrested on April 30. Seven of the protesters were UNM students at the time, UNM Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Cinnamon Blair wrote in a statement to the Daily Lobo.
“UNM’s intent is to enforce the law and our policies using an educational approach, allowing those who were charged the opportunity to understand that their actions violated the law and to learn from their actions without the charge going on their permanent record,” the statement reads.
Students, faculty members and community members at the encampment called for UNM to cut economic ties with Israel due to its treatment of Palestinian civilians during the ongoing war in Gaza, where over 44,000 people have died, according to PBS.
Blair said the majority of cases dismissed were part of a plea agreement, under which “individuals agreed that their cases would be dismissed after a specified period of time if they did not commit any further violations of the law.”
Cass Boe, a doctoral student at UNM, was arrested during the occupation of the SUB. Boe said they still struggle emotionally with the fallout, but do not regret protesting.
“I decided what I was doing was morally correct, because there's a genocide happening,” they said. “But I did not anticipate the level of violence that UNM inflicted.”
UNM law school alum Diego Guerrerortiz said he thinks there should be more accountability for police officers on campus after witnessing what he described as violent arrests taking place during the SUB occupation. That night, officers were recorded tackling protesters and throwing them down to arrest them.
“Maybe it's time for change in accordance with how we deal with peaceful protests and demonstrations happening on our campus” Guerrerortiz said.
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UNM has historically brought riot police to respond to students peacefully protesting on campus, according to Guerrerortiz.
“A year and a half prior to (the encampment) I was beaten by riot police on that campus,” Guerrerortiz said.
Boe said they now have an “especially emotional reaction” to seeing police officers on campus.
“I can't walk past campus police,” Boe said.
Boe said the Office of the Dean of Students asked them to write an essay following their arrest to “apologize.” The stress of the academic sanctions impacted their studies, they said, but faculty members in their department have been supportive.
Hope said that as a Native person, they feel they have experienced institutional repression multiple times at other actions.
“People who are part of marginalized communities, like Native communities … are going to experience othering by a white supremacist system,” Hope said.
According to a 2023 report by the Safety and Justice Challenge, a history of federal oppression and laws play a role in Indigenous people being disproportionately incarcerated in the United States.
Rakin Faruk is a recent UNM alum who was involved in the encampment protests when she was a student.
Faruk was banned from campus this summer after a pro-Palestine protest during New Student Orientation.
“I was going to apply to the clinical psychology P.h.D. program at UNM. I have become well acquainted with the professors there,” she said. “I am applying to other institutions, but even those are asking me if I have been sanctioned, so it's affecting my applications.”
Sixteen people involved with campus protests this year still have visitor bans from all UNM campuses, Blair wrote.
Faruk said she does not regret being involved with the encampment protests.
“It was the community that kept us going,” she said. “We took care of each other — even just going to the grocery store together or sitting with someone as they call a lawyer.”
Andre Montoya-Barthelemy, a UNM School of Medicine faculty member, credited the encampment for UNM’s decision to disclose its investments.
On Aug. 19, UNM President Garnett Stokes disclosed UNM Foundation holdings in her weekly campus-wide email.
In a statement to the Daily Lobo, Alan Wagman, a lawyer who represented two of the arrestees, said that there is a difference between following laws and rules and acting ethically.
“One would hope that the University of New Mexico would have understood the distinction and recognized that the protesters at the Duck Pond and at the SUB were acting out of sincere and legitimate ethical concerns,” Wagman said. “One would have hoped that UNM administrators would have meaningfully engaged protesters’ concerns.”
Leila Chapa is the social media editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on X @paloma_chapa88
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @paloma_chapa88
