Beyond criminal charges lies the ultimate academic punishment: expulsion. It was levied on Jack Petocz, a 19-year-old freshman, and others who were kicked out of Vanderbilt University in Nashville after more than two dozen students affiliated with the Vanderbilt Divest Coalition staged a 21-hour sit-in at an administrative office, he told CNN and the group has said.
The demonstration was prompted by the university’s cancellation of a vote on an amendment to the student government constitution to prohibit that group’s funds from being spent on targets of the worldwide Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, Petocz said. Students were denied access to food, water, bathrooms and medical attention over the course of the sit-in, which concluded with some arrested, including Petocz, he told CNN.
Vanderbilt University declined to discuss disciplinary actions taken against students, citing federal privacy laws and directing CNN to earlier statements about the incident.
Students “forcibly entered” the administrative building on March 26, those statements said, and three faced misdemeanour assault charges for “pushing a Community Service Officer as well as a staff member who offered to meet” with protesters.
