Seven Illinois State University students will serve 18 months of court supervision and pay fines for criminal trespassing.
Jomareun Richardson, Kevin Dion, Rebekah Mangels, Aidan Marcikic, Steven Lazaroff, Joseph Bloom-Boedefeld and Daniel Kimball were arrested on May 3 while staging an after-hours sit-in in the campus administration building. The pro-Palestinian protestors requested to meet with ISU President Aondover Tarhule and demanded the university's divestment from financial backers with ties to Israel.
In a sentencing hearing Oct. 7, the students pleaded guilty to one count of criminal trespassing, a class B misdemeanor. According to the McLean County circuit clerk, a second class A misdemeanor of criminal trespassing on state land was dismissed.
The seven students collectively filed a civil suit this summer, claiming the university violated their first amendment rights. That case is ongoing and has been moved to a federal court. A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 6.