Media contact: media@splc.org
1/22/2025 Update: President Levin responded to our letter on Jan. 20. His response is copied in full below.
Dear Ginny and Mike,
Thank you for writing. I appreciate hearing your perspective.
Stanford has a very strong set of policies to protect free expression, including by student journalists. We seek to uphold these policies consistently and rigorously.
However, as Provost Martinez and President Saller explained clearly last spring, these protections are not a license to violate university rules or state laws.
That is why Dilan’s case was referred last year to the campus disciplinary process. I can confirm that this process is complete and resulted in no disciplinary action.
With regard to the criminal charges, President Saller and Provost Martinez expressed the view that the DA should pursue all of the cases stemming from the building take-over, just as all of the cases were referred to our internal disciplinary process. The DA’s office will determine how to proceed based on the evidence it has assembled, and my intent is to leave that judgment up to the DA.
Kind regards,
Jon
Original 1/17/2025 post:
The Student Press Law Center and the First Amendment Coalition today wrote to Stanford University President Jonathan D. Levin to request he take specific steps to address the university’s mishandling of the June 5 arrest of a student journalist covering a pro-Palestinian demonstration on campus.
Dilan Gohill, who covered campus activism for The Stanford Daily last spring, has for more than half a year faced the prospect of felony charges and academic discipline for the act of covering the news. Former Stanford President Richard Saller and Provost Jenny Martinez previously said they “fully support having [Gohill] be criminally prosecuted and referred to the office of Community Standards.”
“Because of the university’s disappointing and very public role in this ordeal, we request that you publicly confirm that Gohill will face no university disciplinary action and that you urge the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office not to pursue charges against him,” the organizations wrote.
In June, SPLC and FAC — joined by 24 other free speech and press groups — urged the district attorney “to avoid expending significant resources prosecuting a young journalist who was acting in good faith to serve the public’s interest in timely coverage of newsworthy events.”
The Student Press Law Center (splc.org) is a nonpartisan nonprofit that promotes, supports and defends the free press rights of student journalists and their advisers. SPLC provides information, training and legal assistance at no charge to high school and college student journalists and the educators who work with them.