by Gray Trammel
Criminal cases against 23 students and ten non-students who were arrested during a 2025 pro-Palestinian occupation at the University of Washington (UW) are moving toward dismissal, according to the group, known as the UW33. Those arrested have entered a Stipulated Order of Continuance, a pre-trial diversion agreement which will allow trespassing charges to be dismissed if students adhere to the agreement.
“The UW33 update is proof that despite the intense repression the Palestine movement is facing across the country and around the world, community defense works and it is possible to fight repression and win,” Noah Weight of Super UW told TtS.
The 33 were arrested following the May 5, 2025, occupation of UW’s Interdisciplinary Engineering Building, which protesters have renamed the Shaban al-Dalou Building in honor of the 19-year-old engineering student Israeli Occupation Forces killed in Gaza in October 2025 while receiving medical treatment. The occupation of the building was organized by Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return, and protesters demanded the university cut ties with Boeing, which donated $10 million for the construction of the building. Boeing is a major U.S. defense contractor that manufactures military equipment used by Israel, including F-15 fighter aircraft and precision-guided munitions such as Joint Direct Attack Munitions that guide bombs.
Super UW said UW33 maintained its political positions throughout the university’s student conduct proceedings and criminal hearings.
“This is important to highlight, because this win exemplifies the impossibility of crushing the Palestine movement, as does the advocacy the Filton 5 are continuing from behind the bars of British prisons,” Weight noted.
Several of the UW33 experienced severe injuries from arrests by the UW Police Department, the Seattle Police Department, and the Washington State Patrol. These injuries include permanent nerve damage, concussions, bruising, and torn ligaments that required surgery. The students were immediately suspended and disenrolled from their classes for a total of eight months, evicted from student housing, banned from the campus, and forced to pay back financial aid.
This new victory comes as UW considers proposed changes to its Student Conduct Code as it relates to disruption, obstruction, failure to comply, and unauthorized access, as previously reported by TtS. Super UW said the potential revisions could allow the university to hold students responsible for damages connected to a protest, even when there is no evidence they personally caused damage. The May 5, 2025, occupation allegedly resulted in $1 million in damages mainly having affected the fabrication studio, according to the university, which also accused protesters of setting fire to two dumpsters outside of the building.
“Considering that the university and the state were unable to file charges for anything other than trespass, and offered a pre-trial diversion for those trespass charges that will end with a full dismissal of those charges, it is clear that UW is attempting to create a new conduct policy in which students can be punished above and beyond current standards,” Weight said. “The language in the [Student Conduct Code] is explicitly directed at political protest— specifically students who engage in sit-ins, building occupations, or protests who do not leave when ordered by a university or law enforcement officer.
Weight said this outcome from the courts was achieved through “public pressure, community support, and clear unwavering politics,” and he acknowledged how other protesters have faced FBI raids, felony charges, and other forms of prosecution. Super UW is encouraging supporters to continue organizing around Palestine, protesting UW’s relationship with Boeing, and opposing UW’s proposed student code of conduct changes.
“While the UW33 is able to avoid jail time, there are 10,000 Palestinian prisoners being tortured inside of occupation prisons,” Weight said. “As many return to school alongside their classmates, Palestinians in the West Bank are blocked from entering their schools by Zionist settlers, and students in Gaza similarly risk their lives in continuing their education.”
Weight added how every person who cares about Palestine has a responsibility to support the movement by staying involved and fighting repression.
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