On May 4, 2024, the UVA administration called in city and state police to arrest and otherwise aggressively remove a group of student-led protestors from Grounds. Those arrested faced criminal trespassing charges and were forced to go to trial. The commonwealth attorney ultimately dropped all criminal charges against the arrestees, arguing that there was not enough evidence to sustain the charges. All UVA students’ no trespassing orders were eventually rescinded indicating all arrested protesters were not a threat to the community.

Since then, the University administration has continued to punish students arrested on May 4. Student Affairs administrators have actively been pursuing charges of student misconduct through the University Judiciary Committee (UJC). They have withheld degrees from graduating seniors and have stated that they will not release those degrees until the UJC process is complete. Though the UJC is student-run, all of its decisions are subject to review by the Vice President of Student Affairs, Kenyon Bonner, who has the authority to revise any decision that is “not in the best interest of the University.” Recently, the Student Affairs administrator who brought the charges, Donovan Golich, offered to meet students as a group and drop the charges – but President Jim Ryan and Student Affairs VP Kenyon Bonner has gone back on the offer indicating a commitment to retaliation, retribution and an attempt to frighten students from exercising their first amendment rights this academic year. The UVA administration’s hasty introduction of new rules that further restrict its students’ right to protest at the start of this semester only amplifies this intimidation.

Why must the charges be dropped:

In the months since May 4, it has become alarmingly clear that the UVA administration aims to make an example of these students. By withholding degrees and keeping the students from pursuing their professional futures, it seeks to intimidate others into submission and silence. But we will not be silent.

By insisting upon moving forward with these arbitrary and unjust charges, UVA’s administration seeks to deflect attention away from their disastrous decision to call in dozens of riot police to brutalize and terrorize a small group of students and community members protesting UVA’s investments in the genocide in Gaza. UVA administrators claim to honor and respect the free speech rights afforded in the US Constitution. However, their decision to meddle in student-run processes and to use University resources to punish its students demonstrates otherwise. By pursuing punitive measures against students and instituting new protest policies, administrators send a clear message: anyone who calls for UVA to realize its mission to be both “great and good” will be subjected to constant and unyielding retaliation. The General Assembly will be holding hearings this month related to the excessive force brought to bear on student protesters at UVa and other public universities. The post protest treatment of students at UVa is sure to be a topic of discussion, concern and national attention.

We, the undersigned, demand that the University of Virginia administration unconditionally drop University Judiciary Committee (UJC) charges against the students arrested on May 4th, 2024. UVA administrators must stop their continued punishment of students speaking up for Palestinian human rights and demanding the University disclose their investments. They must stop rubbing salt in the open wounds of the UVA community and drop the UJC charges. UVA policy allows those bringing charges to drop them, and this call is firmly within VP of Student Affairs Kenyon Bonner and President Jim Ryan’s remit. We demand that they do so immediately.

The following individuals have signed onto this open letter:

Autumn Hong, UVA student

Cady de la Cruz, UVA student

Michelle Walker

Julia Tayloe

Micah Andrews, UVA student

Ashley Xiao

Alfa Surafel

Caroline Silvera, UVA student

Hira Azher, UVA Alumni

Ellie Nystrom

Rachel Branman, UVA Alumnae

Kairyn Coles

Leianis Gunn, UVA Alumni

Kristy Rios Ramos, UVA student

Juliana Contreras, UVA student

Julia Aldred, UVA graduate student

Lily Wasko, UVA student

Katia Pikouni, UVA Alumni

Valencia Rodriguez

Nick Williams, UVA student

Wilma Uribe, UVA student

River Rothwell, UVA student

L Cortez

Zachary Goadhouse, UVA student

Holly Acker, UVA Alumni

Conner Celum

Kimberly Egoavil, UVA student

Cherrie Kwok

Olivia B, UVA Alumni

John Modica

Levi Vonk, UVA Global Studies Program

Alexa R

Danya Khreshi, UVA student

Keily de Jesus Murillo

Juliet Lee, UVA Alum, PhD 1999

Emery Shelly, UVA Alumni

Victoria Slabinski, UVA graduate student

Sarah

Lex Page, UVA Alum

Yasmin Bakhit, UVA student

Deborah Kushner

Mina Mohammed

Amy Thiam, UVA student

Faith, UVA student

Ariadna Rodriguez, UVA student

Emma Swafford, UVA student

Sergio Camacho, UVA Alumni

Frankely Ramirez, UVA student

Elizabeth McKenny, UVA PhD student, Religious Studies

Mandi Gregory, UVA Alumni

Teresa Domingos-Kioza, UVA student

Sam Lizama, UVA student

Leah Assefa, UVA Alumni

Leah Baetcke, UVA Alumna

Rochelle Banos-Diaz

Sebastian Stinson, UVA student

Melanie Snail, UVA Alumni

Lily Mitchell, UVA student

Randa Ampah

Anna Lobianco-Sims

Aniyah McWilliams, UVA student

Priscilla Yoon, UVA Alumni

Elizabeth Montoya, UVA student

Sana Friedman

Lori Stahl, UVA Alumni, Staff

EL, UVA student

Rose Buckelew, Professor

Kathryn Foote

James Torgerson, UVA student

Em Gunter, UVA student, Anthropology

Rolando Virreira

Elizabeth Attick, UVA graduate student

Mary Kristasatryan, UVA student

Jessica Flester, UVA Alumnus

Sydney Klich, UVA student

Morgan Strassner, UVA Alumna

Sarrah AbuLughod

Natasha Sanghvi, UVA student

Anne Clements

Fahad Bishara, Associate Professor, History

Zachary Tolsdorf, UVA student

Shannon Lankford, UVA Alumni

Deryl Long, UVA graduate student

Morgan Amonett, UVA graduate student

JM, UVA student

Michelle Menezes, UVA Alumni

Coby Lovelace, UVA Alumnus

Emma Andrews, community member

Aisha Amjad, UVA student

Ashon Crawley, Professor Religious Studies and African American and African Studies

Laura Goldblatt, Assistant Professor, Global Studies and Engagements

Drew Chaney

William Walls, Virginia taxpayer

Spencer Attick, community member

Sara Lombardo, UVA Class of 2023

Tai Ferree, UVA Class of 2025

Addie Patrick, Staff

Grace Merkel, UVA student

Jameson Phelps, UVA student

Ben Doherty, Head of Library Instruction UVA Law Library

Kayla Pineda

Tersa Sandoval-Schaefer

Quinn Early, UVA student

Araya Sojo

Marcus Dupart, UVA student

Ethaar Gwary

Kristy Lobianco

Tiffany King, Faculty Member

Madison Green, UVA Grad worker

Deborah McDowell, Professor

Oludamini Ogunnaike, Associate Prof. Religious Studies

Medha Vullikanti, UVA student

Laan Birdwell

Sanjula Chitty

Jamal Abudiab, UVA student

Aidan Wood, UVA student

Laura Baker

Andrew Selsky

Livia Sinani, UVA student

Isabela Munoz

Erika Schatz, UVA student

Angel Liang

Olivia Chambers, UVA student

Mia Fabrizio, UVA student

Jackie LaCroix, UVA student

Chane’l Radden

Brooke Negron

Carolina Turner, UVA student

Julien Kearns, UVA student

Sumaira Javed, UVA Alumna

Rebecca Harris

Erica Hidinger-Wood

Lily Krall, UVA student

Nat C

Justin, Meyer

Erum Vohra

Walt Heinecke, School of Education

Haley Stiles

Katie Lee, UVA Alumna

Ahmed Abaza, UVA Alumni

Mashall Rasul, UVA student

Madelyn Bixby

Tanesha Hudson, Equity Fellow

Debbie Amendano, UVA student

Lily Kim

Olivia Gabbay, UVA Alumna

Mustafa Abdelhamid, PVCC Student

Natalie Nuñez, UVA Alum

Brenda Brown-Grooms, UVA Alumna

Adrian Crawford, Astronomy

Amy Laboe, UVA Alumna

Fidel Gonzalez, UVA graduate

Olivia Bent, UVA student

Anastasia Obernberger, UVA Alumnus

Cristina Racanelli, UVA student

Nick D, UVA Alumni

Tim Wallace, UVA College ‘04

Fan Lin, UVA student

Andaleeb Rahhman, UVA Graduate of 2012, MSA President

Corinna Fonseca, Staff

Charlotte Baker, UVA student

Julianne O’Leary, UVA student

Cierra Biel, Staff

Andrea Negrete, UVA Alumni

Khoi Anh Nguyen, UVA Alumni

Christina Keenan, UVA Alumnus

Eilise O’Connor

Ananya Sairaman, UVA student

Gabriel Nelson, UVA student

Geeta Patel, Professor, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages & Cultures and Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies

Lena Seville, UVA Class of 2017

Anushey Ahmed, UVA Alumni

Donna Shaunesey, UVA Alumni

Attiya Zafar, UVA Alumni

Sabrina Harjanto, UVA Alumna

Eden W

Helen Do, UVA student

Rosemarie Dojcak, MPP Candidate

John Henry Vansant, JD/MPP ‘25

Carson Sarager

Nancy Wein

Nitya Varigala, UVA student

Ari Cerja

Omna Berhanu, UVA student

EC, Parent

Johnathan Zadra, PhD Alum

Paul Noursi

Tori Darosa, UVA student

Mark Wood

Ashley Slaughter

William Walls, Virginia taxpayer

Christa Robbins, Associate Professor

Aneeqa Huq

Isabel Xiao

Mary Doty

Zoe Menon

Enyojo Agene, UVA student

Yancy Argueta Diaz, UVA student

Thomas Nowlin, UVA Alumnus

Huma Khalid, UVA student

Connor Doty

Emma Leishear, UVA student

Kamylle Reid

Hagar Kamal, UVA student

Tamia McDonald

Elizabeth Lee, UVA Alumnus

Brooke Howe, UVA student

Celeste Shelton, UVA Alumni

Annie Camp, UVA graduate

N.A.

Helena Cullen, UVA Alumni

Gulnar B

Jack Massingill, UVA Alum Class of 2024

Diana Calderon Barboza, UVA student

Alison O’Connell, daughter of UVA Alumni

Shenandoah Worrel, UVA student

Caitlin Centineo

Brian Ng, UVA Student Council Rep

Khalid Awwad, Hospital Employee

Kiana Nadonza, UVA Alumni

Hayley Marshall, UVA Alumnus

Noah Salomon, Associate Professor of Religious Studies

Meesha Goldberg, Past Lecturer

Christine Hoppe, Ghent Montessori School

Jojo Robertson, consumer

John D, UVA Alumnus

Lisa Leichssenring

Mary Donahue

Sally Gudas

Nina Zinsser Booth

Suzanne Hallberg

Danielle DiBlasio

Libby Eveland, UVA Alumna

Ali Faruk

Adeeb Abed

Jessica Miller

Matthew Haddad, Virginia Taxpayer

Elissa Kaufman, UVA Alumni, former UJC member

Piers Gelly, Assistant Professor, English

Esther Merves

Anna Brush , UVA Alumna

Ida Audeh

Nora Zahn, UVA Alumni

Ana Kh, UVA Alumni

Caroline Bray, UVA Alumna

Robin Allman, VA taxpayer

Tessa Farmer, Associate Professor

Trish Doherty

Gabrielle Brown, UVA Library

Steven Villereal

Alexander Harris

Nandini Sikand

Jennifer Riichardson, UVA Alumni

Indrani Chatterjee, Professor

N.R.

Kellen Miller

Amelia Wilt

Elizabeth Nigri, UVA

Phoebe Graham

Katherine Moore, hometown Charlottesville

Celeni Young

Jessica Sun

Albert Mokhiber

Stephany Cardenas, UVA Alumna

Robert Fatton, Emeritus Professor of Politics

Matthew Hafdelin, UVA student

Michael Capps, UVA Class of 2017, SOM ‘18

Niav, Charlottesville

Cynthia Hoehler-Fatton, Department of Religious Studies

Khalid Houbate

Zoe Krylova, Employee

Niki Majumdar

Stephanie Schutte, UVA Alumni

Grace Delaar, UVA student

Amanda Eisenhour

Jessica Koraz

Chris Chang-Bacon, Faculty

Mark Sicoli, UVA Anthropology

David Hindman

Skye Taylor

Mercy Soly, UVA student

Emma Kim, UVA student

Kellie Cannon

Jaeda Fontaine-Rasaiah, UVA student

Leigh Neville

Ashley Kraemer

Nadia Ennasr

Lauren Stark, UVA Alumni

Amy Katuska

Caitlin Ayoub, UVA Alumni

Margarita Cali

Anna Hickman, UVA Alumni, SARC ‘21

Zinzi Symister

Lee Brooke, UVA Alumni

Christen Duxbury

Hana Khreishi

Brian McLauchlin

Sophie Regeimbal, UVA student

Liberty Vanty

Ava Arvand, UVA student

Maha Al-Hassan, parent of a student who was brutalized by police

Jennifer Hitchcock

Rachel Gozillon

Mya Marquez, UVA student

Manal Khreishi

Taylor Lamb

Sierra Kennedy

Garrick White

Rishi Bhogaraju

Zaniya Trotman, UVA student

Annelise Miranda, UVA Alumna

Kennedy Harmon, UVA Alumna

Janet Lahr Lewis

Anne Garland Mahler

Scott Klich, UVA Parent

Augie Faller

Casey, UVA Alumni

Ben Bressette, UVA Class of 2026

Katherine Flores, UVA student, community leader

Meg Kosefeski, Environmental Science ‘25

Tatiana Flores, Professor

Charles Michaels

Eva Thorp

Laura Somel

Mark Siegel, son of UVA E.E. Professor Emeritus Dr. Clifford M. Siegel

Kim Union

Erin Burns, UVA student

Mona Saleh

Christian Wright, UVA student

Alex MacMillan, UVA student

Najwa Labban, MD/PhD Candidate

Emily Roper

Aayush Gautam

Abram Lee, Virginia Tech

Maria Rahmouni, UVA student

Kara Green, Graduate Student

B Noite

Raphael Baer-Way

Lorena Albert Ferrando, Faculty Member

Asher Wentz, UVA student

Michael Beer, Parent of UVA student

Lo Long, UVA student

Avneet Chhabra, UVA Alumni

Shayna Hussain, UVA Alumni

Allison Ward-Seidel, SEHD PhD

Dionne DiBlasio-Lenassi

Nathan Foley, Adjunct Faculty and Alumnus

Nyla Upal, UVA student

Nicholas Newberry, friend of the school

Connor McClellan, Graduate Student

Andrew Newitt, Graduate Student

Anna Dignan, Graduate Student

Gabriela Castro, UVA Alumni

Matthew Gruenburg, UVA Alumni

Kiley Weeks, UVA Alumni

Dean Paler, UVA student

Bethany McGlyn, Graduate worker / PhD Candidate

Daniel Velasquez, UVA student

Lizzie Rusnak, UVA student

Rachael Panzer, community member

Sarah Chapman, UVA Staff

Mariana Ortegon, UVA student

Leah Leon

Kiernan Foster, UVA graduate student

Zaynab

Kelly Moore

Lianna King

Lucy Burns

Nathan Moore, UVA Staff

Natalie Bretton, UVA student

Charlotte Lawson, UVA student

Hannan Mumtaz, UVA Alumni, former Lawn resident

Lyra McKee, UVA Academic Staff

Sabriya Sheikh, UVA student

Nicole Breedlove

Alexandra Carmona-Perez, UVA student

Sloane Daly, UVA student

Megan Bloom, UVA Alumni

Cleo Boyd, PhD Candidate in History

Maha Mirbacha, UVA student

Addisyn Winston, UVA student

Emma Arata

Megan Le, UVA Alumni

Katherine Schaller

Alfa Surafel

Olivia Sun, UVA student

Todd Hall, UVA PhD Student

Sarah G, UVA student

María Esparza Rodríguez, Assistant Professor of Spanish, General Faculty

Nadia Cempre, UVA Staff & Alumni

Dami Bankole, UVA student

Maida Malik, UVA student

Robyn Ogombe, UVA student

Piper Rigsby

Tessa Saporito, UVA student

Khadija Hasan, UVA Alumni

Julenia Cox

Jessica Chung, UVA student

Terri Ginsberg

Katherine Avery, UVA Law 2006

Donna Tietjen

Dakota Yu, UVA student

Sabrin Alshawafi, UVA student

Christopher Traft

Devin Zuckerman, Post doc

Sonal S, UVA Parent

Mary L. Liepold

Natalie Behnke, UVA Graduate Student

Sahar Zeiaei, UVA student

Tahrir Hamdi

Claire Begbie

Lynniah Archer, UVA student

Esther Poveda, UVA Faculty

Holly Sims, UVA Alumna

Luna Moore, UVA student

Ruth Tsegaye, UVA student

Marcus Briggs

Anthony DiTommaso, UVA Parent

Jenna T, UVA Alumni

Dennis Williams II, UVA student

Isabelle Lotocki, UVA Alumni

Thomas Domet, UVA Alumnus

Thomas Domer, UVA Alumnus

Indigo Samson, UVA student

Rabab Abdulhadi, Colleague

Hannah Wesley

Mia Kritenbrink

Rola Suleiman, UVA student

Flora de Tournay

Juliette Valade, UVA Alumna

Giles Jackson

Emman Hussny, UVA Parent

Matthew Lunsford, UVA Alumni

Ann Hancock, UVA Alumni

Susan Fraiman, UVA Professor

Chenyu Wang, UVA Alumni

Tariq Khraishi

KD Thompson

Bethany Letiecq, GMU-AAUP

Bonyan Qudah

Anjum Javed, UVA Parent

Samhita Sunya

Malek Abisaab, McGill University

Elizabeth Yates

Izzy Saillard, UVA Alumni

Ruth Goldstein

Nancy Carpenter

Iliana Rong, UVA student

Nicholas Newberry, UVA peers

Casey Bloome, UVA student, Resident Advisor (RA)

Linda Goldstein, UVA

Azzur Pickett

Amro Alabsi Aljundi, UVA student

William Walls, Virginia taxpayer

Patrick (PJ) Podesta, UVA Alumnus

Aadarsh Natarajan, UVA student

Katie Graves, Virginia taxpayer

Norma Rantisi

Adam Howard, UVA Alumni

Rohan Chowla, UVA student

Fer Diaz-Ca

Virginia Jackson, UVA Parent

Marina Cura, UVA student

Olivia Hathaway, UVA Employee, Alumna

Matthew Chin, Assistant Professor, Women, Gender & Sexuality

Samantha Iyer

Chloe Smith, UVA Alumni

Karina Vega-Villa

Layan Nasef, UVA student

Riley Miner

Jade Beverly

Theseus Fulgham

Mikey P.

Dena Mohammed Ali

McKinley Collier

Cameron Waskey

Brett Panarese

Victoria Dickerson, UVA student

Pamela Nice

Ibraheem Qureshi, UVA student

Mary Johnson

Meredith Ackroyd

Rudy Ghul

Amer Ghul

Samar Najia

Yaritzy Hernandez, UVA student

Allison Martens

Carlos Baena

Rula Khoury

Alma Korkor, UVA peers

Rola Osta

Maliha Haddad, UVA Alumni Parent

Yvonne Yvonne

Yafrainy Familoa, PhD Student

Nina O’Malley

Heidi Nicholls, UVA Alumni

Kent Kronenberg, UVA Class of 2005

Sarina Condon

Kathryn Blanco

Lauren Leggett, UVA community

Maria Rincon, UVA Class of 2017

Flo Mims, community member

Logan Sowers, UVA student

Rafeeq McNamara

Jack Leff, adjunct at Virginia Tech

Ann Perry

Kevin Rose, Assistant Professor, General Faculty

Freshta Fazli

Meliha Haddad, UVA Parent

Caitlin Miller