Phone script:

Hello DA Rosen, my name is [Name] and I am a [resident of Santa Clara County/concerned student/ parent/etc]. I’m calling to urge you to drop these unprecedented charges against the Stanford 11. More than 3100 Pro-Palestine, anti-genocide student protesters were arrested over the last two years. You are the only DA who has sought a felony grand jury indictment. No student activism, including previous occupations of the same president’s office, have resulted in criminal charges. You are breaking precedent to bring felony charges against these students because of their political speech. You are in lock step with Trump’s crack down on the first amendment. Unless you drop these charges, I will [vote for your opponent / not be voting for you] for DA this year. I will not vote to silence free speech or to waste county resources punishing protestors. I sincerely hope you will change your position.

Background Information

These felony charges are being upheld in large part by a fraudulent restitution claim by Stanford University. The claim is not justified by the images of damages, so how did they get to $329,000?

After fixing all of the alleged damages, Stanford University renovated the entire building, and charged the Stanford 11 with an arbitrary 37% of the cost, based on the vague justification that they ‘damaged 37% of the rooms.’

• For example: Stanford provides no evidence that steam cleaning did not remove the very small spots of dye that they had photographed on the carpet. Stanford then renovates the building, pays $99,000 to replace all of the carpets in the building, and charges $36,630 to the student activists. Stanford then charges student activists with the cost of repainting the walls, replacing the furniture, and replacing wood trimming for the entire room.

This restitution claim is nothing more than a shady tactic by Stanford to manipulate the criminal justice system to enforce harsher consequences than they know are warranted. Victim restitution is a system by which victims of violent crimes are able to repay their medical bills, not for billion dollar institutions to manufacture fake restitution to punish those that they do not like. This tactic of overinflated restitution is also being used against the Golden Gate 26, other Pro-Palestine protesters who face a $186,000 restitution claim from the Golden Gate Bridge Authority claiming lost tolls. Similarly to the Stanford 11 case, the Golden Gate Bridge Authority has never in its history leveled a restitution claim against activists who have closed the bridge. This is a new tactic designed explicitly to punish Pro-Palestine activists.

Tell Stanford to DROP THE RESTITUTION NOW!

Sample Call Script:

I am calling as a concerned {community member/affiliate/student/alumnus} asking Stanford to lower their demand for the Stanford 11's restitution.

Earlier this year, Stanford set the restitution for the Stanford 11 protestors at over $300,000. This does not reflect the damages alleged to have been done by the Stanford 11. By artificially inflating the cost of the building damage, Stanford along with the Santa Clara County DA, intentionally mischaracterized the actions of the Stanford 11 and chose to saddle protestors with the costs of their opportunistic renovation of Building 10, complete with repainting, reflooring, and refurnishing. Stanford is a multi-billion dollar institution that can afford to pay for its own renovations without bankrupting student activists.

This inflated restitution number does not reflect the cost of repair for the alleged damage to the building by the Stanford 11. This artificially high restitution has kept students from settling their charges out of court in September, which will cost the taxpayers of Santa Clara county thousands of dollars in court and trial costs. This has everything to do with sending a message to any future protesters that they will receive extreme punishment should they call out Stanfords continued violation of its charter by investing in apartheid and genocide.

I am asking Stanford to come to the table and negotiate a lower restitution amount based on the material damages by the Stanford 11. I will be withholding all future alumni gifts and donations unless the university agrees to drop its baseless pursuit of an artificially inflated restitution number.

Sample Call Script:

Hello Congressman Khanna, my name is [NAME] and I am a [resident of Santa Clara County, concerned student, etc]. I am calling to request that you take action against Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen to drop the unprecedented charges against the Stanford 11.

Of the 3,100 pro-Palestine and anti-genocide student protesters arrested over the past two years, DA Rosen is the only DA who has sought a felony indictment. Prior takeovers of the Stanford president's office have resulted in no criminal charges. Recently, DA Rosen used a private grand jury indictment to push forward his extreme and unpopular charging decision. DA Rosen is breaking with precedent to bring felony charges against these students because of their political speech, and is in lock step with Trump's crackdown on the First Amendment.

As our Congressman, we trust you to stand up for justice in Palestine and against the curtailing of free speech. You have demanded that Israel release a Californian flotilla member, condemned the "chilling" of campus protesters' free speech, and called for the Democratic Party to recognize the State of Palestine. We are counting on you to stop one of the most extreme attacks on free speech in the country that is happening right in your jurisdiction, by a DA who is in the pocket of Trump and war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu.

We are depending on you to stop Santa Clara County from capitulating to Trump. We urge you to tell DA Rosen to drop the charges against the Stanford 11.

Subject: Drop the Charges Against Stanford Student Protesters

Comment: **Customize as you wish**

I am writing to request that you take action against Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen to drop the unprecedented charges against the Stanford 11.

Of the more than 3,100 pro-Palestine and anti-genocide student protesters arrested over the past two years, DA Rosen is the only DA who has sought a felony indictment. Prior takeovers of the Stanford president's office have resulted in no criminal charges. Last week, DA Rosen used a private grand jury indictment to push forward his extreme and unpopular charging decision. DA Rosen is breaking with precedent to bring felony charges against these students because of their political speech, and is in lock step with Trump's crackdown on the First Amendment.

As our Congressman, we trust you to stand up for justice in Palestine and against the curtailing of free speech. You have demanded that Israel release a Californian flotilla member, condemned the "chilling" of campus protesters' free speech, and called for the Democratic Party to recognize the State of Palestine. You recognize the moral urgency of supporting Palestinians when Israeli politicians are "annexing the West Bank and erasing Palestinian identity."

In your own words, "what's going on in our university campuses, with people who are criticizing foreign policy and then getting harassed, that's not standing up for free speech." We are counting on you to stop one of the most extreme violations of free speech in the country that is happening right in your jurisdiction, by a DA who is in the pocket of Trump and war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu.

We are depending on you to stop Santa Clara County from capitulating to Trump. We urge you to tell DA Rosen to drop the charges against the Stanford 11.