On May 1, 2024, 89 individuals were arrested on the Green during a pro-Palestinian protest. Last summer, Grafton County prosecutor Mariana Pastore charged 55 individuals, primarily with violation-level trespassing. All other charges were dropped.
Students who were charged and went to court reached settlements last year, which stated that students’ cases will be dismissed after a period of “good behavior,” according to Hanover Police Department chief James Martin.
“Every person charged with only the violation-level criminal trespass from May 1 was offered and accepted a ‘placed on file without a finding of guilty’ disposition,” Martin wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth. “This is a non-criminal disposition that allows the person charged to maintain the not guilty plea through a period of good behavior. After the period of good behavior passes, there is no criminal conviction.”
During the period of good behavior, individuals can commit “no further criminal offenses or major motor vehicle offenses” Martin wrote. The length of the good behavior requirement varied case-by-case and all but two students have had their good behavior period end “without incident” as of April 27, according to Martin. The remaining two students agreed to the settlement “recently” and began their period of good behavior later than their peers, Martin wrote.
Pastore did not respond to requests for comment.
Abigail Burgess ’25, was charged with violation trespassing and accepted a settlement in July entailing a year of good behavior. Burgess said the prosecutor’s reasoning for pressing charges against her and not other student protesters was that “after reviewing the camera footage… [she] was seemingly locking arms more aggressively with other protesters.”
Burgess said that she took the settlement because she didn’t want to abide by her bail conditions until a hearing — which would have taken place a year later. Specifically, she didn’t want to avoid the Green for a year, which was a stipulation of her bail.
“That would suck in this nice weather,” Burgess said.
Other individuals who were arrested said that they were negatively impacted by bail conditions, including religion professor Christopher MacEvitt — whose charges were dropped in late June along with several students.
“I couldn’t participate in graduation,” MacEvitt said. “As a house professor … I should be there to support my students … I wanted to go and represent East Wheelock.”
Hanover native Andrew Tefft — who was in town visiting family and was arrested “out of nowhere” while “checking out” the Green — pleaded guilty to resisting arrest at a hearing on Dec. 23, 2024. He opted to not pay a fine and instead serve a 10-day sentence. Tefft explained that his sentence was deferred a year, meaning that he can either file a motion of good behavior and not serve his sentence or report to Grafton Correctional Facility by Dec. 23, 2025.
Tefft was banned from “all Dartmouth properties” as a condition of his bail, which lasted until his hearing last December.
Tefft said that the legal process was confusing and that he was “frustrated” by the lack of communication from the College, police department and county about bail conditions and the charges.
“I didn’t know if I could get a piece of pizza,” Tefft said. “I was outside Ramunto’s calling Dartmouth security to see if it was a Dartmouth-owned property.”
Tefft added that “the indifference” he received “from people in power” felt like he “was being swept under the rug in [his] own hometown.”
Burgess said there was confusion over when her period of good behavior had ended. Burgess’s charges were expunged from her record on March 30, but her lawyer did not inform her of this until April 18.
“It’s officially over, but it’s been a year,” Burgess said. “I’ve been dealing with this for a year. And the period of good behavior was fucking terrible … I didn’t know if I got pulled over, would it be affected. I was always scared when I saw the police.”
Burgess said the good behavior period also forced her to “remove [herself] from activist circles” on campus, which made her feel “helpless.” On Oct. 23, when Burgess was leaving a class in Moore Hall, a protest of an event with Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was going on outside, and she said she had to “run away.”
“I go outside and there’s all the protesters and I see the sheriff and I know the faces of the people who are there,” Burgess said. “... If they for some reason thought I was at their protest, and I already have charges, it could be so bad for me.”
MacEvitt — who was on the Green to “make sure protesters were okay” and did not hear the announcement to leave the Green — said he was never informed that his charges were dropped.
“I got emails from friends saying, ‘Congratulations, I heard the news.’ I was like ‘What news?’” MacEvitt said. “I never got any direct communication.”
MacEvitt said he had to file a petition to get the conditions of his bail lifted after charges had been dropped, although the process was “simple.”
Although his charges were dropped, MacEvitt said the experience “changed” his relationship with Dartmouth and made him feel “less safe and protected” on campus.
“I had a mistaken idea that we were a community and whatever issues we might have would be worked out within our community,” MacEvitt said. “There was no real apology [from the administration] or engagement with the clearly excessive nature of the arrests. That really felt like, okay, [Dartmouth] isn’t the place that I thought it was.”
Many people who were arrested, including MacEvitt and Burgess, have had their names and photos published on pro-Israel websites like Canary Mission that say they were arrested at a “pro-Hamas encampment.”
MacEvitt said this association is “upsetting” and “dangerous in this political moment.”
“If somebody Googles me, they could find that website and get a very mistaken impression of me and my values,” MacEvitt added. “And the website doesn’t say that the charges were dropped.”
Burgess said these websites are “extremely harmful” to her especially “as a Jewish person,” because they “not only threaten future career opportunities,” but also create difficult personal complications.
“I have a pro-Israel grandfather who doesn’t know that I was arrested,” Burgess said. “If for some reason he decides to look me up, it could cost so much.”
Multiple students whose charges were dropped declined to comment on the record for fear of privacy and professional consequences.
