The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) called on President Jon Levin ’94 to voice support for Daily reporter Dilan Gohill ’27 as he faces potential charges by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. Gohill was detained in June on suspicion of felony burglary, vandalism and conspiracy while covering the occupation of Building 10 by pro-Palestinian protesters.
The Friday letter addressed to Levin requested that he “publicly confirm that Gohill will face no university disciplinary action and that [he] urge the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office not to pursue charges against him.” The letter was signed by Ginny LaRoe, advocacy director at the FAC, and Mike Hiestand, senior legal counsel at the SPLC.
The letter was also sent to Provost Jenny Martinez, former President Richard Saller and Board of Trustees Chair Jerry Yang ’90 M.S. ’90.
“Given that Stanford invited the police response and has publicly endorsed Gohill’s prosecution and disciplinary referral, it must now publicly call for that prosecution and threat of punishment to end,” LaRoe and Hiestand wrote.
The letter refers to Martinez and Saller’s June 10 statement on Gohill’s prosecution, in which they “fully support having him be criminally prosecuted and referred to Stanford’s Office of Community Standards.”
Sean Webby, director of communications at the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, told the Daily that they currently “don’t have the cases to charge yet.”
“Once we get all the information that we need, we will review the information and decide if there are appropriate charges to make, and if so, which ones to make,” Webby said.
“The university’s voice on this matter is persuasive,” the letter stated, citing a similar situation at Dartmouth College. Last May, two student journalists were arrested while covering a pro-Palestinian protest and encampment, despite wearing press credentials. Dartmouth President Sian Leah Beilock published an open letter calling for their charges to be dropped, writing that they “should not have been arrested for doing their jobs.” Following the letter’s publication, the local prosecutor declined to pursue charges.
FAC and SPLC urged Stanford to follow this example. “The Daily did nothing meriting the university’s harsh response and decision to leave [Gohill] in limbo for so long,” they wrote.
Their letter follows a December letter from 11 Stanford alumni in journalism and law, who condemned the University’s conduct toward Gohill and The Daily. They argued that Gohill’s actions were lawful and criticized the University’s support for his criminal prosecution.
The alumni argued the University should withdraw its support for prosecuting Gohill, issue a public apology and request the District Attorney’s office to close the case.
Last June, the FAC and SPLC also wrote a letter to Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen, urging prosecutors to “reject all charges against Gohill.” The letter was co-authored by 24 local, state and national groups “dedicated to free speech and freedom of the press,” and emphasized Gohill’s role as “a young journalist who was acting in good faith to serve the public’s interest in timely coverage of newsworthy events.”