Grand jury ignores felony disguise charges against pro-Palestinian protesters at Xavier

A Xavier University student and a recent graduate arrested in connection with a campus protest were charged with felonies under a law that officials say had never been used in Hamilton County before.

The pair appeared in court Monday on charges they committed a crime while wearing disguises. Witnesses said they were wearing medical face masks. They are also charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor.

By Monday afternoon, the charges against Sophia Dempsey and Julia Lankisch, both 22, had been ignored by a grand jury. In Ohio, grand juries are held in secret, so details about why the charges were so quickly brought before the jurors and why they were ignored is not known.

The pair still face the misdemeanor trespassing charges.

Disguises law dates to 1800s but no record of use in Hamilton County

The protesters were initially charged under an 1800s era law used to target the Ku Klux Klan and other similar violent, vigilante groups. Attorney General Dave Yost pointed out the law in a letter to Ohio university presidents in response to the recent pro-Palestinian protests. It carries a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.

Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Matthew Broo said staff at his office could find no records or recall anyone else ever being charged under this law in this county.

Dempsey and Lankisch were protesting Saturday in support of Palestine in reference to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, according to the student group XU Free Palestine.

The protesters were "peacefully protesting the university's investments in Israel and academic trips and its complicity in continuing to fund genocide," the group said in its statement following the arrests.

Xavier officials said the pair refused to move to a designated protest area near Husman Stage and were arrested around 7:30 a.m., about 90 minutes before the undergraduate commencement ceremony.

"While non-violent campus demonstrations by Xavier students, faculty and staff are welcome, University policy states it may limit the time, place and manner of demonstrations to ensure disruptions to campus operations are avoided," the university said in a statement Saturday.

Xavier professor says protest could have been handled more peacefully

Associate Professor Andrew Zolides witnessed the arrest. He said the pair wore blue medical masks similar to those commonly worn during the pandemic. He also said Dempsey and Lankisch were the only protesters near Cintas Center at that time.

Zolides teaches communication and digital media classes at Xavier and is also the director of the university's "Take It On" initiative. The initiative encourages civic engagement and creates spaces for students to have conversations about difficult topics, often across political or ideological lines, he said.

He said he went to the protest to be a mediator in case any conflicts arose. After he learned of the event, he sent an email to several administrators and the chief of police Robert Warfel telling them he would be there to help. Zolides said he never got a reply from the chief.

He said he was about 30 yards away from Dempsey and Lankisch when police approached. By the time, he got to them about a minute later, they were already restrained and under arrest.

He said he believes the "strong show of force" was influenced by the nationwide protests but pointed out this was not a major encampment. While there have been national stories about major conflicts between university administrations and students, Zolides said other schools have handled things differently.

"There have been other schools that have addressed this more peacefully," Zolides said. "It doesn't have to be that way.

Ethan Nichols, a rising Xavier University senior and leader in the XU Free Palestine group said the group is calling for Chief Warfel's removal, an investigation into the arrests and for the faculty committee to hold a vote of no confidence in President Colleen Hanycz.

Dempsey and Lankisch were released on their own recognizance Monday. Judge Bernie Bouchard ordered them to stay away from Xavier University as a condition of their bond in the trespassing case.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Grand jury ignores charges for pro-Palestinian protesters at Xavier