SWARTHMORE COLLEGE ISSUES ITS FIRST SUSPENSION FOR PEACEFUL PROTEST

On Thursday, March 6th 2025, Swarthmore college SUSPENDED a student for peaceful protest activities in the Fall of 2023. The student, a second semester senior 2 months from graduating, was charged with assault for the use of a bullhorn indoors, the first suspension of its kind nationally.

This suspension was part of Swarthmore College’s decision to officially sanction 10 students for their participation in Palestine solidarity activism that took place between October 2023 and March 2024. The sanctions include one suspension, one two-semester probation, and nine single-semester probations.

The sanctioned students are predominantly students of color and first-generation, low-income students, with the most severe sanctions issued to Arab and Muslim students.

The student facing suspension is an independent, first-generation, low-income student who risks homelessness and financial precarity if the college does not rescind its decision. The suspension was based on an unprecedented “assault” charge for the sound from a megaphone used during a peaceful protest in the Fall 2023 semester. This sanction bars the student from Swarthmore housing or on-campus employment and jeopardizes their educational future.

This is the first time in recent history that Swarthmore College has issued a suspension for student participation in peaceful protest. The “assault” charge issued fails to find grounding in both Pennsylvania state law and Swarthmore College’s Code of Conduct.

Additionally, the probations threaten other students’ ability to keep their on-campus employment, putting them at risk of financial insecurity.

These sanctions were issued just days after former President Donald Trump tweeted:

“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/sent back to the country from which they came. American Students will permanently be expelled. NO MASKS. Thank you for your attention.”

These sanctions are amid a broader trend of escalating criminalization of student activism under the current administration.