Once again, a school caves instead of enforcing real consequences.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
Pro-Palestinian University of Chicago graduates receive diplomas withheld due to protestsFive University of Chicago graduates received their diplomas this past week after the university withheld them for more than two months over the students’ alleged involvement in pro-Palestinian encampments.Youssef Hasweh and the four others — Rayna Acha, Kelly Hui, Andrew Basta and a graduate student who declined to give their name — received conferment letters in recent weeks notifying them their disciplinary cases had been dismissed and their diplomas would be mailed to them.Relieved the disciplinary process is done, Hasweh still questions why the five of them were punished in the first place. They never were informed of what their alleged misconduct was, other than receiving a complaint that didn’t include their names but referred to involvement in a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.In a statement to the Sun-Times on Sunday, university spokesman Gerald McSwiggan said the school wouldn’t be releasing information about individual disciplinary cases “in keeping with federal privacy laws,” but that degrees can be given to students “expeditiously” after a case is resolved or dismissed.“The protests on campus in spring of 2024 brought about multiple formal complaints alleging that students violated University policies,” the statement said. “As part of this process, degrees may be withheld until the case is resolved. Degrees can be conferred expeditiously after a case is dismissed.”Hasweh, 22, was among more than two dozen students and faculty who were arrested at an October sit-in at the school where they demanded the university disclose its investments and divest from those with ties to Israel and arms companies.His misdemeanor trespass to property charge was eventually dropped. But the university continued its disciplinary action, which could include withholding degrees until the case is resolved.The arrest caused Hasweh to be fired from his job in the admissions office. He also had several job offers rescinded after graduation while the university withheld his degree, he said.
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