Letter from the Editors | On The Daily’s previously arrested reporter, protest coverage

It has been 127 days since Daily reporter Dilan Gohill ’27 was arrested while reporting on a pro-Palestinian student group’s occupation of the president’s office. Despite attending in his capacity as a reporter, Dilan still faces three suspect charges from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office in addition to disciplinary proceedings from the University. 

We appreciate the outpour of support Dilan has received from 26 free speech and press freedom organizations in June calling on the district attorney to decline to pursue charges against him. Just this week, two student government bodies at Stanford near-unanimously passed a resolution calling on the University to urge the district attorney’s office to decline charges against Dilan, which have not been filed, and support the dismissal of disciplinary proceedings.

We commend the student bodies for their support of Dilan, who was present at the June 5 demonstration solely in his capacity as a Daily reporter and bore and presented valid press identification at all times. Dilan did not participate in or plan the demonstration and had no prior knowledge of protesters’ plans to enter Building 10. He entered only to report the news and was unable to leave once barricaded inside by the 12 demonstrators who entered it first. 

The Daily continues to support reporters like Dilan in pursuing protest coverage. The Daily urges the district attorney to decline to file charges against him and the University to withdraw his referral to the Office of Community Standards for review. Taking these actions against Dilan would set a troubling precedent and stifle independent student journalism on campus and across the country.

The Joint Resolution on the Protection of Student Journalism, passed by the Undergraduate Senate today and the Graduate Student Council on Monday, also lauds The Daily’s efforts to “revise and communicate improvements to journalistic training on campus to better prepare student journalists for navigating legal and ethical challenges.”

The Daily takes seriously its obligations to provide unbiased, independent student journalism to the community. In addition to hosting internal newsroom policy training for our staffers, The Daily is bolstering its trainings with workshops from professionals on the law and ethics of protest coverage. 

James Wheaton, founder of public interest law firm First Amendment Project, and Bruce D. Brown ’88, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, will be holding workshops later this month. The two sessions, mandatory for our reporters, are also open to the public.

The Daily prides itself in upholding the highest professional and ethical standards of independent student journalism. The Daily will continue to be guided by these standards in preparing its student journalists to cover fast-paced campus protests in the future. 

Linda Liu, Editor-in-Chief

Luc Alvarez and Itzel Luna, Executive Editors

James Wheaton is holding a workshop at the Lorry Lokey Stanford Daily Building at 1 p.m. on Oct. 13. Bruce D. Brown ’88 is holding a workshop at 5 p.m. on Oct. 23.

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