Dear Community,

As some of our readers may be aware, Stanford police arrested Daily reporter and current news editor Dilan Gohill ’27 last spring while covering a pro-Palestinian protest in the president’s office. He was detained along with 12 protesters on the suspicion of felony burglary, felony vandalism and conspiracy to commit the two.

While Stanford dropped Dilan’s disciplinary case in January, he is currently awaiting charges from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office. His case is still under review, though they “expect to announce some developments very soon,” according to an email from Sean Webby, the communications director for the DA’s office, to The Daily on March 5. 

As the newest executive team, we urge the DA’s office to decline to file charges, and we urge the University to do the same. Dilan is now a desk editor for the Campus Life section under News and continues to cover important issues on campus. The pursuance of charges against him is not only unfair, it threatens the mission of student journalism.

Editor-in-Chief Greta Reich ’26 was on the scene during the protest on June 5. As Dilan followed the 12 protesters into the building, she reported from outside of the building and helped write multiple follow-up stories when Dilan was detained. They were the only two Daily reporters on the ground to cover the protest, though they were in contact with multiple news editors throughout the coverage. (Executive editors Lauren Koong ’26 and Ananya Udaygiri ’26 were not involved in coverage of the protest.) 

Following Dilan’s arrest, the executive editing team at the time released a Letter from the Editors explaining in detail the occurrences of the day. In the fall, the new executive editors released their own Letter from the Editors urging the DA to decline to file charges against Dilan and for the University to withdraw his referral to the Office of Community Standards for review. We stand by both teams’ commitment to Dilan’s freedom as a member of the press. We also agree with their previous criticisms of how the police and the University treated Dilan as a protester rather than a member of the media.

The University’s lack of support in helping Dilan’s case has been wholly discouraging. In a public statement on the protest in June, Provost Jenny Martinez wrote that the University believes he “acted in violation of the law and University policies and fully support having him be criminally prosecuted.”

University president Jonathan Levin ’94 stood by Martinez’s assessment in a December interview with The Daily, saying that, “I think Provost Martinez explained this with complete clarity last spring… In the case of the potential criminal charge, that’s not the University, that’s the Santa Clara District Attorney. They’ll make a determination as is appropriate.”

This indecision and equivocation by the University dismisses the severity of the situation, threatening the security student journalists should feel on campus. Dilan faced and continues to face genuine challenges to his future, and we hope that the University will acknowledge this. 

Additionally, the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS) are still holding onto Dilan’s belongings from the day he was arrested, including a camera that belonged to The Daily along with his personal laptop, phone and backpack. SUDPS spokesperson Bill Larson said in an email to The Daily on March 3 that “once the case is adjudicated, and the Judge orders the evidence released, the items can be returned.”

Multiple free speech organizations and student groups, including the Undergraduate Senate and Graduate Student Council, have also called on the University and the DA to decline to press charges against Dilan, and his work earned him the the Society of Professional Journalists’ James Madison Freedom of Information Award and Golden Sledgehammer Award. These awards signify a significant contribution to the advancement of freedom of information and the spirit of the First Amendment.

We want to reiterate that Dilan has our full support. We stand by his actions as a student reporter doing his job and urge the DA to come to the same conclusion.

Best,

Greta Reich ’26

Ananya Udaygiri ’26

Lauren Koong ’26