NYC campus protests pose the latest political quagmire for Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg

Published May 3, 2024 at 3:44 p.m. ET

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Published May 3, 2024 at 3:44 p.m. ET

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As the weekslong protests on city campuses go from the streets to the courts, the person ultimately responsible for those prosecutions is entering a political and logistical minefield.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should be used to that by now.

The progressive prosecutor who is responsible for almost all the cases involving protesters thus far is already a regular target for tough-on-crime conservatives. The encampments at Columbia, the City College of New York, Fordham at Lincoln Center and NYU where police have made arrests this week were all located on Bragg’s turf in Manhattan.

Encampments protesting the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza have spread to college campuses across the country, drawing recrimination from the mayor, the NYPD, national conservatives and Jewish leaders concerned about antisemitism and student safety.

Whether or not Bragg decides to pursue, change or drop charges against the protesters, his decision is likely to spark criticism from across the political spectrum.

“The optics of trying a protest case are never good,” said attorney Remy Green, who has represented protesters in lawsuits against the city in the past.

The Manhattan DA’s office and NYPD have released a detailed list of preliminary charges resulting from this week’s campus arrests. Crimes range from misdemeanors such as trespassing to felonies such as burglary. Protesters in just a handful of cases are facing more serious charges, including assault and weapons possession.

At a press conference earlier this week, Bragg said prosecutors will decide how to proceed after reviewing all the available evidence, including watching body camera footage.

"As my office does in every instance in all of our work, we will look carefully at each individual case on our docket and make decisions based on the facts and the law," he said.

It’s common for prosecutors to dismiss cases after mass arrests at protests, said Green, who added that thousands of arrests from the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 were ultimately dismissed. Green helped secure a $13 million payout for Black Lives Matter protesters who filed a class-action lawsuit claiming that they were wrongfully arrested.

Green said the DA’s office must weigh a host of factors as it decides whether moving forward with criminal charges is worth the time and resources: On one hand, prosecutors must seriously consider evidence brought to them by police officers, whom they rely on every day to bring cases and testify during trial. On the other hand, prosecutors must determine whether that evidence is actually strong enough to hold up before a judge — or, eventually, before a jury that could be sympathetic to the First Amendment right to free speech and critical of police brutality, Green said.

“Even though very few cases ultimately end up tried, everything is done in the shadow of: ‘What do I think the jury is going to be thinking about if the government decides to put on this case?” Green said.

Bragg must also consider the political landscape. The DA ran on a platform of progressive criminal justice reform, which has made him a regular scapegoat for law enforcement and conservatives who have accused him of giving dangerous criminals a pass. That remains a regular refrain, even as murders, shootings, robberies and burglaries have declined during Bragg’s tenure, according to data from his office. The ongoing criminal trial against former President Donald Trump has also put him in an unprecedented spotlight.

But Green said Bragg isn’t the first Manhattan prosecutor to face political pressure.

“That is just kind of the default, because it's Manhattan,” Green said. “Of course there are highly charged cases.”

NYPD officers in riot gear moved into Columbia University’s campus Tuesday night, arresting dozens of protesters and clearing an occupied university building and tent encampment. That same night, police moved in on encampments at City College, where police officials said 70 protesters were arrested.

A total of 282 individuals were taken into custody, police said. Of those, 192 people were released with summonses.

The 46 people who were booked after being arrested at Columbia on Tuesday night have all been arraigned on charges of criminal trespass in the third degree, a class B misdemeanor. Those people were all arrested inside the locked doors of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall, Bragg’s office said. Twenty-two people arrested at City College are facing charges of burglary in the third degree, a felony, and obstructing governmental administration.

Officials say the City College protesters were part of a group that got into a building on campus and barricaded the entrances with furniture and other items so police could not enter. They also threw a chair and a garbage can at responding officers, tried to hit an officer with a keyboard, and spray painted over surveillance camera lenses, according to the criminal complaint.

Five additional people arrested at City College are charged with assault in the second degree, also a felony, and one person is charged with a misdemeanor of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.

All of those arrested have since been released, the DA’s office said, and prosecutors requested a three-week adjournment in the cases while the office investigates further.

NYPD officials said 15 people demonstrating at Fordham University on Wednesday were taken into custody and later released with summonses.

As arrested protesters were arraigned on Wednesday evening, dozens of students in keffiyehs crowded the halls of the Lower Manhattan courthouse. They filled the benches outside the first-floor arraignment courtrooms, some working on laptops, others chatting and eating snacks. Tote bags, backpacks, salad containers and baguettes were strewn across the floor. Other students gathered on the sidewalk across the street, waiting to give those who were arrested granola bars and assistance connecting with legal support after they were released. The students declined to speak with the press.

Clashes between college protesters and police continued on Friday, with police making early-morning raids at NYU and the New School, at the request of the colleges.

The NYPD said 13 people were taken into custody at NYU, and 45 people were taken into custody at the New School.

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Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.

Jessy Edwards covers incarceration and public safety. Before working at Gothamist/WNYC, she covered daily and breaking news at NBC New York and Brooklyn news at BK Reader. Got a tip? Email [email protected].

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