Dozens of University of Michigan students and community members gathered bundled up in the cold outside the steps of Rackham Auditorium. They held signs painted with slogans like “Viva Palestina” and waved Palestinian flags. The group called on the university to divest from companies that do business with Israel, among other demands.
The protest is one display of activism related to the fighting between Israel and Hamas that has been present on campus for years. Last school year, full of campus protests on the topic, ended with a Gaza solidarity encampment on the Diag, the central area of the U of M central campus.
The TAHRIR Coalition is a group of over 90 pro-Palestine organizations that promoted the Thursday protest via Instagram. The coalition demands that the university not only divest from companies that do business with Israel but also conduct a “People’s Audit.” The audit would be aimed at ensuring that University operations and endowment investments are transparent, accountable, and aligned with University principles.
The coalition also demands a boycott of Israeli academic institutions and the abolishment of the university’s police department and the U of M Department of Public Safety & Security.
Maryam Shafie, a student at the University of Michigan, marched and spoke at the protest. She is the co-president of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, which is a pro-Palestinian student organization that is part of the TAHRIR Coalition. The organization was recently suspended from campus for two years. The university accused the group of violating U of M standards of conduct during a protest and a demonstration last school year.
Shafie and other protesters giving speeches at the event spoke about the importance of communicating with the University. She said it has been difficult to get in touch with university administration to discuss demands, which is a reason why protesters met on campus on Thursday. The Board of Regents met Thursday evening.
“Over the last like year and a half, they have been very exclusive about who can attend those meetings. They made it very hard for students, faculty to enter and voice their concerns,” Shafie told Michigan Public. “What we've seen is more than a year of just complete repression of the student body's demands. And so we're joined here today as a testament to the fact that even if they won't hear our concerns, we'll continue to voice them, and there will be no business as usual on this campus….”
University spokesperson Kay Jarvis wrote in an email to Michigan Public that the university has long been welcome of dissent and advocacy and continues to do so. She noted that not all expressions of protest are welcome though.
“At the same time, the university’s deep commitment to free expression does not extend to speech or conduct that violates the law or university policy,” Jarvis wrote. “This includes targeted speech that involves bullying, defamation, destruction of property, harassment or threats.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed a lawsuit on February 3 against the University for what it called “repressive” policies toward some pro-Palestinian protesters.
Thursday’s protesters marched from campus down State Street in downtown Ann Arbor before returning back to Rackham. They held up traffic downtown as protesters and Ann Arbor police cars directed cars around the marching group. Those marching chanted slogans such as “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “free, free, free Palestine.”
Some critics say protests calling for divestment from Israel and companies doing business with Israel are fundamentally antisemitic. The Anti-Defamation League is one of these critics. The league alleges that calls for divestment are part of a movement “to dismantle the Jewish state and end the right to Jewish national self-determination on any portion of this contested land.”
The U of M Board of Regents has discussed the calls for divestment. At a board meeting in March, board members said they are declining to divest from companies that do business with Israel for financial reasons. They also said the university has a “longstanding policy” to “shield the endowment from political pressures.”
The University of Michigan has previously divested from companies after campus activism, such as from companies in South Africa during apartheid and in tobacco companies.
Protesters say the divestment calls are aimed at companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin which manufacture weapons and which the University has had previous small but direct investments.
President Donald Trump announced a plan on January 29 to take aggressive action against antisemitism on college campuses. The plan promised to prosecute offenders and revoke visas for international students who are considered “Hamas sympathizers.”
Shafie said the protesters on the U of M campus haven’t been deterred by actions at the federal level even after a ceasefire was called between Hamas and Israel last month. She said that campus activism is still important because Palestinians are being discriminated against.
“This is a new climate, but I wouldn't say that it's any weaker,” Shadie said. “I think we're refocusing and renavigating how we achieve our goals with new political climates, especially under the Trump administration.”
Editor’s note: the University of Michigan holds Michigan Public’s broadcast license.
