Evergreen State imposes punishments on 80 protesters
The Evergreen State College has sanctioned about 80 protesters who disrupted school activities, held administrators hostage, and harassed Professor Bret Weinstein this spring.
According to The Olympian, the school made the decision after reviewing approximately 120 incident reports that involved a total of 180 students accused of violating the student-conduct code.
[RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Weinstein files $3.8M claim against Evergreen State]
“Of those 180 students, approximately 80 were found responsible for their actions,” Evergreen spokesperson Sandra Kaiser told the publication. “They received sanctions ranging from formal warnings, community service and probation, to suspension.”
Kaiser said the college has been reviewing the incident reports since spring, and noted that protesters who did not attend Evergreen were given criminal trespass warnings, with one being “permanently barred from campus.”
The protests first engulfed the college in May following Weinstein’s decision to challenge the administration-backed event that asked for white faculty and students to leave campus for a “Day of Absence.”
[RELATED: VIDEO: Evergreen protesters hold admins hostage over demands]
After learning about Weinstein’s objections, roughly 50 student protesters swarmed his classroom, accused him of being a racist, and allegedly barred police officers from assisting the professor.
Later that same day, the students demanded that Weinstein either resign or be fired during a large protest attended by the president of the college and the chief of campus police.
Last month, Weinstein settled a $3.8 million lawsuit with Evergreen, accusing the college of failing to protect him and his wife from the "verbal and written hostility" that drove Weinstein to temporarily flee the campus for his own safety.
The lawsuit culminated in a $500,000 settlement with the college admitting “no liability” and rejecting all of the allegations that were made in the initial tort claim.
[RELATED: Exclusive: Weinstein’s lengthy struggle at Evergreen State]
“The educational activities of Day of Absence/Day of Presence were not discriminatory,” the school wrote in an email to faculty and staff that was first reported by The Seattle Times. “The college took reasonable and appropriate steps to engage with protesters during spring quarter, de-escalate conflict, and keep the campus safe.”
According to the publication, Weinstein and his wife also resigned from Evergreen following the settlement.
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