University of Michigan students and faculty protested the school’s proposed disruptive activities policy and rejection of calls to divest from companies could profit from Israel's war in Gaza in a demonstration Monday. They also protested against Israel's military campaign.
The protest was organized by the Tahrir Coalition, which describes itself as a collective of 81 student organizations, activist groups, and Greek Life organizations. A few dozen students and faculty held a teach-in event at the Diag and a picket on Central Campus.
Speakers called for an end to the war and changes to school policy. Bilal Butt, an associate professor in U of M's School for Environment and Sustainability, was the opening speaker at the teach-in. “You have people who weren’t able to access basic needs in society. You have elderly who are unable to access chemo treatment, children whose schools have been bombed,” he said of the situation in Gaza.
Specifically, speakers raised issues with University of Michigan policy. Protesters continued calling for the school to divest from companies that benefit from and support Israel’s war in Gaza. The School regents declined to change their investment portfolio in late March.
Demonstrators also raised concerns over a proposed disruptive activity policy. The policy would ban any protest that would disrupt school activities. Violators could be put on probation, suspended, or expelled. The school proposed the policy after pro-Palestine protesters interrupted the university's Honors Convocation.
Critics have said the policy will stifle free speech.
Butt said that would be counter to the university's goals. “If the university feels the need to clamp down on what students and others in the community feel to be problematic, then it behooves the university administration to engage with those voices and to listen to them constructively,” he said in an interview after his speech. “To actually understand what's at the heart of the concerns that they're raising, rather than to rush out a policy that appears to be deeply flawed and has received a lot of pushback from far and wide.”
“I think there was a faculty member at an earlier event who voiced it really well. Don't give us a reason to protest and we won't protest,” Butt said.
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