Buildings restrict access after protesters disrupt engineering building – Yurika.R

Several University buildings, which are usually unlocked during class hours on weekdays, now require a Stanford ID card to enter, according to signs posted across buildings. These restrictions come after pro-Palestine protesters disrupted Building 570, a mechanical engineering building, while students were present on May 20.

The Daily has reached out to the University for comment.

Buildings which now require keycard access include academic buildings, such as those around Main Quad, and dining halls, like Stern, Florence Moore, Lakeside and more. Student residences have always required keycard access. 

According to the University IT website, Stanford ID cards control access to “residence and dining halls, libraries, recreational facilities and staff office buildings.” Stanford students, faculty, staff and “other classes of individuals with a close association to the University” are permitted to carry key cards, according to Stanford’s administrative guide.

At Thursday’s Faculty Senate meeting, President Richard Saller said that students working in the labs were “frightened by the intrusion and concerned for their research and lab equipment as well as their personal safety.” Saller also shared that a faculty member called the research in the lab “sensitive and dangerous” to those without proper training. 

The University and the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS) have opened an investigation into the event. In a copy of his remarks emailed to the Stanford community on May 23, Saller warned that students found to be responsible for last Monday’s event will face “immediate suspension” and will not be allowed to participate in Commencement. 

The People’s University at Stanford has circulated a petition, which alleges that a student was arrested and banned from campus on Thursday. Stanford Against Apartheid in Palestine (SAAP), who organized the encampment, led a Monday afternoon march demanding that the University drop these charges.