The students and staff members arrested at Cornell University during a March anti-war sit-in went to court Wednesday.
The group of 22 students and two staff members were charged with trespassing for refusing to leave a building on campus after it closed.
Their cases were adjourned in contemplation of dismissal. That means as long as they don’t get arrested again before May 16, around the end of Cornell’s semester, the cases will be sealed and dismissed.
Most times, this type of legal arrangement defers a case for closer to six months or a year.
The protesters were calling for Cornell’s board of trustees to cut ties with weapons manufacturers, including the companies making the weapons being used by the Israeli military in Gaza.
Attorney Sujata Gibson represented many of the protesters.
“The students decided to take the ACD (adjournment in contemplation of dismissal), and focus on continuing to advocate and discuss and work for a ceasefire and for an end to Cornell's investment in the genocide in Gaza,” she said.
Jacob Berman, vice president of Cornell’s Jewish Voice for Peace, was among those who got arrested. He said he wanted to show that there are Jewish students fighting for divestment.
“I wanted to show Cornell and maybe Zionists on campus that there are Jewish people who do not support this genocide,” he said.
Michael Margolin, a staff member at Cornell’s Team and Leadership Center, was also arrested during the sit-in.
Margolin is also an educator at the Tikkun v'Or Reform Temple, although he made it clear that he only speaks for himself and not the congregation as a whole.
He said American funding for the Israeli military is about perpetuating colonial interests and not about protecting Jewish people.
“The U.S. is interested in oil and resources, not the Jewish people,” he said. “So I stand against that relationship as an American citizen, because it doesn't benefit or create safety for Jewish people, for Israeli people or Palestinian people.”
He said he was honored to join the 22 students at the sit-in.
“These young people that are organizing on Cornell’s campus just amaze me every day.”
A small crowd gathered at the courthouse to watch the hearing and offer moral support for the protesters.
