Why pro-Palestinian students at U of Michigan are trying to stop funding for Frisbee and dance teams
The university says it will circumvent the student government if it carries out its vow
Salma Hamamy carries a Palestinian flag during a pro-Palestinian protest during the University of Michigan’s commencement ceremony on May 4, 2024 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
(JTA) — The University of Michigan’s new student government campaigned on a simple message: Until the school agrees to divest from Israel, “No Business As Usual.”
Michigan’s Central Student Government is in charge of disbursing a $1.3 million annual budget, funded by student fees, among hundreds of student groups. But in the wake of its election victory in the spring, the Shut It Down Party is vowing to withhold funding from all student groups — including the Ultimate Frisbee club and the ballroom dance team — unless the university agrees to divest.
“If CSG cannot be used to support our pursuit of divestment, we will take decisive action to disrupt the status quo,” a March campaign statement from the party reads. “We will halt CSG activity and funding dispersal until the University of Michigan divests. We will Shut. It. Down.”
The university says it will circumvent the student government if it carries out the pledge. Still, the tactic has some students alarmed.
“Without this funding a lot of student organizations can’t function as they should, making a lot of students’ lives worse,” said Ryan Grover, a student and rugby player, at a student government meeting Tuesday night. “They’re going to be a lot worse off mentally. They’re going to be a lot worse off physically.”
The student government narrowly voted to approve a $400,000 fall budget at the end of the meeting — potentially setting up a repeat of the summer session, when Michigan’s student government president Alifa Chowdhury vetoed a proposed budget for student groups. Chowdhury is the leader of Shut It Down and a member of the pro-Palestinian student collective TAHRIR Coalition, which organized the school’s pro-Palestinian encampments in the spring.
Whatever happens, the saga offers a stark indication that protest over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is on track to shape another school year, with potential consequences even for students who aren’t engaged with either side of the divide.
Chowdhury did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. A student government representative deferred to the school’s public relations department.
“The University of Michigan will make funding available to registered student organizations who apply for funding for the fall semester,” a spokesperson said in a statement to JTA. “U-M’s Vice President for Student Life and the Dean of Students notified the Central Student Government on August 19 of the decision to immediately institute a temporary funding process. This step was taken at the request of senior leaders within the CSG assembly, after the CSG president in June vetoed a budget resolution that had been passed unanimously by the assembly.”
The fall budget approved on Tuesday was not unanimous: It passed 25-15.
Most of Michigan’s Jewish groups receive their funding from Michigan Hillel, which is an independent nonprofit, meaning they are insulated from student government funding decisions.
“All my programs are running normally, and I really only heard about this because my dad sent me an article,” Ian Rosenberg, a representative of the university’s Jewish Engineering Association, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
But Michigan Hillel says the spillover effects on Jewish students could be significant.
“We are deeply concerned about the potential impact for any student organization who may rely on CSG funding and the broader chilling effect this could have for Jewish students on campus,” Michigan Hillel said in a statement. “In the past, Hillel student groups have received funding from CSG for campus-wide initiatives, and it’s unfortunate that this situation could impact community-building efforts and further divide students.”
The organization added, “It is disheartening to see student government leaders prioritize a divisive and discriminatory agenda over the well-being of their fellow students.”
Other student groups at the university that hold varying stances, including the Arab-Jewish Alliance and the school’s chapter of the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace, did not immediately return requests for comment. The school’s JVP chapter supports the encampment movement and the TAHRIR Coalition.
Michigan’s isn’t the only student government to take action after school leaders did not meet student demands over Israel. This week, the student senate at The New School in New York City also promised to “freeze funding to all student organizations until divestment is achieved.”
Other student government leaders have clashed directly with their campus Hillels: The University of British Columbia’s student union nearly voted last semester to boot Hillel from campus, while a federal complaint filed against Purchase College in New York by a pro-Israel group alleges that the school’s student government has also targeted its area Hillel.
Some universities struck deals with student activists last semester to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampments in exchange for making formal presentations about divestment proposals. But Michigan was not one of them, and, after briefly considering the issue in March, the school’s Board of Regents said there would be no “divestment of any kind from the university endowment.”
Michigan — whose Ann Arbor campus is home to large Jewish and Palestinian student populations — has experienced an aggressive strand of activism on campus that has stretched beyond encampments to include vandalism of a Jewish regent’s business, disruptions of student awards ceremonies and new-student orientations and, last weekend, a harassment campaign at the state Democratic convention in support of a Palestinian activist’s failed bid for a regent seat.
In some ways, the flagship state school has lately taken a more aggressive posture toward pro-Palestinian protesters than many others of its size. Last fall, President Santa Ono removed another student government proposal from a ballot that would have called for the school to divest from Israel, and simultaneously announced a new institute for the study of antisemitism.
The school has disciplined some of its encampment participants and rescinded a civil rights award that had been given to a student protest leader after she published an Instagram post calling for “death and more” to “every single individual who supports the Zionist state.” The latter action led dozens of other honorees last week to renounce their own awards — named after Martin Luther King Jr. — as they joined the calls for divestment.
Ono was called to testify about antisemitism on his campus before a Congressional committee earlier this month. The testimony took place behind closed doors.
At the student government meeting, some who supported divestment urged those who were distressed about potentially losing funding for student groups to redirect their anger toward Michigan’s Board of Regents.
“A lot of people obviously believe in this cause,” said Dana Owaida, a Palestinian representative on the student government. “Why are we angry at students who are really just reflecting the opinions of the masses when really the regents could just fix this problem?”
But others said they worried that blocking funding for student groups was a misplaced effort.
Teddy Masterson, who recently earned a master’s degree at Michigan and now works at the university, said he was mad at the regents for their handling of pro-Palestinian protests. At the same time, he said, “We’re just one assembly. We’re not the Pentagon.”
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