What happened to protesters arrested on UNM's campus?

While most charges have been dropped against pro-Palestine protesters on college campuses across the country, some had to fight harder than others to make that happen.

More than 3,100 people were arrested nationwide during demonstrations last spring, The New York Times reported. Students, alum and community members camped out on their campus lawns, occupied university buildings, and filled the chambers of board meetings — all to protest the Israel-Hamas war and the universities’ perceived financial involvement.

Protests happened at 70 universities and in 30 states, the Times reported, and in many instances leadership sent in police, leading to a slew of arrests.

One such protester was Siihasin Hope, a University of New Mexico alumnus. Hope uses the pronouns they/them.

On April 22, UNM students, alumni and community members pitched tents on the duck pond lawn on the school’s Albuquerque campus, declaring they weren’t going anywhere until university administrators made a public statement in support of a cease-fire, disclosed investments tied to Israel and divested from those funds.

A week later, protesters brought their tents and set up camp in the Student Union Building. A group of 30 stayed after closing hours until the early hours of the morning, when New Mexico State Police and UNM Police Department officers dispersed the crowd — arresting 16, five of whom were UNM students.

Protesters damaged furniture and doors inside the SUB, as well as wrote on walls with marker, chalk and paint, said UNM spokesperson Cinnamon Blair.

The SUB arrests didn’t deter protesters, who after three weeks camped out at the duck pond, faced another wave of arrests. On May 15, UNM police arrested five protesters, two of whom were students, and also detained two journalists. The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government called the journalists arrest “blatantly unconstitutional.”

Of the 21 protesters arrested on UNM’s campus last spring, court records indicate that Hope was stuck with the most serious charges of the bunch.

Protesters were charged with wrongful use of public property and criminal trespass, while Hope is additionally facing a misdemeanor charge associated with property damage. According to Hope, the UNMPD alleges that they are responsible for $40,000 in property damage.

Sixteen protesters have received bans as visitors to campus that vary in length, Blair said. No students have received campus bans, Blair said, nor has any student been expelled or suspended from the university.

Charges were dropped against 13 protesters with prejudice, meaning prosecutors can’t refile charges. Two protesters await trial later this year, while another has been referred to a pre-adjudication program and will have their charges dropped if they meet the requirements of their program.

Three protesters arrested at the Duck Pond could not be found in court records and their case status is unknown. The Metropolitan Detention Center couldn’t locate those three protesters in their records, officials told the Journal, it is unclear if they were ever booked into MDC.

Both journalists arrested at the Duck Pond have had their charges dropped.

On July 9, the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court dismissed Hope’s case without prejudice. Prosecutors have a limited window to refile charges, and Hope said that process may have already begun.

Another protester had their case dismissed without prejudice, but the prosecution has not refiled or expressed intention to refile, according to the protester’s attorney, Christopher Dodd. That leaves Hope who is one of two protesters still in an ongoing legal fight.

“I have been notified that the paperwork is getting refiled,” Hope said.

Hope’s attorney did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment after multiple calls and messages. Metro Court couldn’t confirm whether the prosecution had refiled.

Hope is Diné, Mescalero Apache and Chicano, identities that guide their work as an activist.

While being booked into MDC, Hope removed their moccasins, footwear of cultural and religious importance to many Native Americans, Hope said. According to Hope, they left the jail barefoot after staff told them that they had no record of their belongings.

“(It) was really dehumanizing,” Hope said.

MDC told the Journal that Hope was released with the shoes they were booked with. UNMPD was unavailable to comment on these claims.

For Hope, the Israel-Hamas war and worsening conditions in Gaza feel all too familiar.

“In a lot of ways for a lot of indigenous people here, like the Diné, Pueblo and Apache people in so-called Albuquerque, we see our story in this story,” Hope said. “I feel personally, really tied to all of my Palestinian relatives who have been displaced from their homelands. And as somebody who’s been made a refugee in my own homelands and has lived on the streets in my own homelands — it hit home for me.”

Hope said they ended up as an unhoused minor on Albuquerque’s streets after their family was displaced from Black Mesa in the Navajo Nation, where coal extraction has degraded environmental conditions.

The Navajo Times reported that some families in Black Mesa, also known as Dziłyíjiin, have to drive 40 miles round trip for access to potable water.

“I fight for my Palestinian relatives like I would fight for my mom or my grandma and my people,” Hope said.

As an institution that serves as “a huge hub for Indigenous students from all over the world,” Hope contends that UNM especially has the responsibility to listen to the demands of Native students and alumni.

UNM has more than 2,300 American Indian or Alaska Native students enrolled as of 2022, according to demographics from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Native academics at UNM seem to agree with Hope. On May 3, the Department of Native American Studies at UNM put out a statement on Instagram in support of protesters and condemning the actions of UNM leadership.

“The UNM Native American Studies Department was born out of student protest,” The statement reads. “We adamantly oppose any criminalization of our students. We call for the UNM leadership and administration to engage in dialogue with the students and faculty.”

Hope isn’t backing down, even with an uncertain status to any legal outcome.

“The future of this movement, for me, is that we’re going to continue to educate people and to politicize them, because there is no room for people who are not political,” Hope said, “Our identities as Native people is inherently political. We don’t get to plug out of politics. We don’t get to walk away from the table, because it directly impacts us in every way.”