Yihun Stith ’26 and graduate student Sriram Parasurama appeared in Ithaca City Court Friday morning for a second time over their arrests in connection to a Sept. 18 career fair disruption, with proceedings indicating they will ultimately take a reduced sentence compared to their original charges.
On Friday, defense attorney Jerome Mayersak requested a further adjournment of two weeks, to allow for more time to negotiate with the district attorney’s office in hopes of reaching an Adjournment Contemplating Dismissal — a full dismissal of the charges pending a period without further charges.
At the protesters’ first court appearance on Nov. 7, Stith and Parasurama pled not guilty on charges of obstructing government administration and unlawful assembly on Nov. 7, while the case against another protester, Atakan Deviren ’27, was dismissed on a technicality. The three students were accused of shoving and resisting officers at Statler Hall as they disrupted a career fair featuring defense contractors Boeing and L3Harris.
Following Stith’s and Parasurama’s pleas, Assistant District Attorney Amelia Carol Christian submitted a proposal that Stith and Parasurama accept a disorderly conduct charge and 25 hours of community service.
That offer lowered the protesters’ top charge from a class A misdemeanor, which holds a maximum sentence of one year in jail and up to a $1,000 fine, to a violation — considered a non-criminal offense.
Now Mayersak is attempting to negotiate down to achieve a deal for an ACD from the district attorney’s office. Following the completion of a set term length without further criminal activity, an ACD would drop the case against the defendants, wiping the charge from their record.
In past interactions with student activists, Ithaca City Court has offered similar ACD deals. In September, student activist Noor Jehan ’26 was granted an ACD after being arraigned on harassment charges for an altercation that occurred while tabling for divestment last spring.
In the Spring 2024 semester, 24 students and staff members were granted ACDs in court, following their arrests for trespassing at a March 21 pro-divestment Day Hall occupation. At that time Heidi Paulino, the assistant district attorney, explained before the court that the district attorney’s office considered public policy, first-amendment rights and the rights of private property owners when deciding to give protesters the ACD.
“It’s clear to see that Ithaca as a city cares way less about this than Cornell University cares about it,” Stith said in an interview with The Sun. I think it’s very clear that most people can see that it’s kind of bullsh*t what [Cornell] is doing here.”
When asked why he thought Cornell continued to arrest protesters despite the court’s pattern of reducing charges, Stith called the practice an act intended to “deter.”
Becka Bowyer, senior media relations specialist for Cornell Media Relations, declined to comment on the University’s arrests of student protesters.
Elliot Walsh ’24, who attended the Friday proceedings in support of Stith and Parasurama, and was one of the Day Hall protesters granted an ACD last year, agreed with Stith. He said that the University’s continued arrest of protesters is an act of “appeasing demands” from donors and outside pressures.
“The University wants to look like they are cracking down very hard and doing the most that they can, and as a result, they wind up filing these charges that then get dismissed or get reduced down drastically,” Walsh told The Sun.
Stith expressed concern about how the continued arrest of protesters could impact the sentences given by the city.
“Our lawyer was discussing how there’s a point where the city will start to just get annoyed at doing this and will become a little bit harder and harsher in punishments,” Stith said.
Mayersak declined to comment on Stith’s concerns.
Stith and Parasurama are due to reappear back in court on Dec. 11.
Correction, Nov. 23, 8 p.m.: A previous version of this article incorrectly transcribed one word from Elliot Walsh ’24.