SEATTLE, WA – Gov. Bob Ferguson said Wednesday he trusts those arrested for the occupation of a building at the University of Washington “will be held accountable for the harm they caused.”

Ferguson’s comments to reporters after a bill-signing were his first public remarks on the pro-Palestinian protest that ended with about 30 arrests and has drawn national attention.

GOP state lawmakers and other Republicans have described the demonstration at the university’s new Interdisciplinary Engineering Building as an act of “domestic terrorism.” The Democratic first-term governor stopped short of using that phrase.

“I don’t know exactly what that definition is, but this is obviously a serious situation,” said Ferguson, the former three-term state attorney general.

Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return UW, or SUPER UW, occupied the engineering building Monday night to call on the school to cut ties with Boeing over its supplying of weapons systems to Israel. They also looked to rename the building after a 19-year-old Palestinian man killed last year in the Israeli bombing of a hospital in the Gaza Strip.

They set dumpsters on fire and blocked nearby streets to prevent firefighters’ access and vandalized equipment inside, according to the university. Damage to equipment in one room was estimated at $1 million, university spokesperson Victor Balta said.

In total, police arrested 31 demonstrators on suspicion of criminal trespassing, a gross misdemeanor, said Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for the King County prosecutor’s office. All have since been released, either after posting bond or based on a judge’s order. No felony cases from the incident have been referred to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, McNerthney said.

Balta said Wednesday that the university had suspended 21 students who were arrested and banned them from campus facilities. Non-students who participated in the protest will also be banned from UW campuses.

“This was no peaceful protest in support of Palestinian rights or against the war in Gaza,” university President Ana Mari Cauce wrote in a statement. “I condemn this dangerous, violent and illegal building occupation and related vandalism.”

Ferguson said he thought Cauce’s statement was appropriate.

In a blog post explaining the occupation, SUPER UW called the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel a “heroic victory.” The attack left about 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, dead, and around 250 people were taken hostage. Since then, Israel has battled Hamas in the Gaza Strip, with tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in the fighting.

Ferguson called the group’s rhetoric about the Oct. 7 attack “outrageous” and said a response to it was “hard to put into words.”

The governor also said he appreciated the “quick” and “decisive” response from law enforcement Monday night, so no one got hurt.

In a statement, Ferguson’s successor as attorney general, Nick Brown, said his office was closely monitoring the “disturbing events.”

“I am thankful that those responsible were arrested and, if found guilty, should be held accountable,” he continued. “I fully and always support people’s right to protest and to express their views. Indeed, it is foundational to our democracy. But everyone has a right to be safe on campus and UW must enforce the law.”

Late Tuesday, the Trump administration opened an investigation into antisemitism at the UW because of the protest. Federal officials called on university leaders to do more to protect Jewish students and prevent future events like this.

“No institution that tolerates violence, harassment, or the open intimidation of Jewish students should expect to receive billions in taxpayer support,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. “This isn’t about politics — it’s about whether a federally funded university is upholding the law, protecting civil rights, and fostering a safe environment for all students.”

Columbia and Harvard universities have faced similar probes. In March, the UW and dozens of other colleges across the country received letters from the Trump administration warning of “potential enforcement actions” based on alleged antisemitic harassment on campus. This followed a national wave of university protests last year over Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza, including an encampment on the University of Washington’s Seattle campus.

Ferguson said he hadn’t heard about the latest inquiry but wasn’t surprised.

“Look, the federal government is investigating just about everybody these days,” he said. “So it’s not especially unusual.”

This story was first published on Washington State Standard.