U of Rochester students expelled over “wanted” posters

The University of Rochester has expelled a group of students who last fall plastered campus with posters critical of university leaders’ response to the Israel-Hamas war, The Rochester Beacon reported Friday. 

The expulsions come a little more than two months after campus officials found “Wanted” posters featuring photos of the university president and other faculty and staff members—some of whom are Jewish—accompanied by text criticizing their handling of the institution’s response to the war or their alleged ties to the Israeli war effort.

UR president Sarah Mangelsdorf denounced the posters in the days after they appeared, characterizing their display as a “disturbing, divisive and intimidating” act that “runs counter to our values as a university.” 

Within two weeks of the incident, the Monroe County district attorney’s office arraigned four students on charges of second-degree criminal mischief, a felony. While those cases are still ongoing, the students also underwent the university’s conduct process, which concluded Friday and resulted in their expulsion.

Sara Miller, a UR spokesperson, told The Rochester Beacon that all student conduct cases are “handled consistent with published processes meeting the institution’s obligation of fundamental fairness while effectively addressing actions found to violate applicable policy and preserving a safe campus environment.” 

But supporters of the expelled students believe the university overstepped. 

“This blatant attack on free speech and advocacy is nothing short of an attempt to silence dissent and suppress pro-Palestinian activism on campus,” reads a statement UR’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter posted on its Instagram page Friday. “These students—leaders in their community and committed to justice—were subjected to unjust detainment, mistreatment, and now expulsion.”

The SJP chapter has also launched a petition demanding the students’ immediate reinstatement “and a fair, transparent review of this injustice.”