The first Columbia students to be tried on "criminal trespass" charges stemming from last spring's riots have been freed by a New York judge.

Responding to a plea for leniency from Columbia administrators, Criminal Court Judge Arthur Goldberg dismissed charges against the 87 students Wednesday. Judge Goldberg said, however, that the dismissal was not a sign that the demonstrations "were proper or lawful, or that repetition of such acts would be regarded as innocence."

Judge Goldberg's decision came over the violent protest of Assistant District Attorney Joseph Stone, who claimed that the Columbia demonstrations were "a testing ground of the principle that in a free society change must never be directed by violence."

313 other students still face trial on similar charges of criminal trespass. The New York District Attorney's office said that this week's decision will not affect the future cases.

But William Warren, a Columbia Dean who had presented the plea for leniency, said that he would enter the same plea for the other 313 students.

In asking the judge to free the first group of students, Warren had said that Columbia was "a big family." "Like a family, we must survive our crises...and continue to live and function together as a unit," Warren said, adding, however, that Columbia could take necessary disciplinary steps itself.

Warren also said that Columbia would make no plea for leniency for 600 other students arrested on charges more serious than trespassing.