Divest or We Will Defund: Pro-Palestinian Student Government Makes Good on Its Promise

Pro-Palestinian activists at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor were frustrated by their inability to persuade the university to divest endowment funds from Israel and military-weapons manufacturers, so they came up with an idea: run a slate of candidates for student government based on a provocative platform. If elected, they’d refuse to fund student groups unless the university complied with their demands. They won — and now they’re carrying through on their threats.

As the fall semester began on Monday, some students worried their groups will have to cut back on their activities unless the university intervenes. Michigan administrators have agreed to provide temporary emergency funding, while making it clear they have no intention of meeting protesters’ divestment demands.

The standoff in Ann Arbor is one of the more striking examples of how protesters are moving beyond disruptions and encampments to embrace new tactics this fall as the war in Gaza roils on.

It’s also an example of how universities are doubling down on efforts to enforce their rules.

In March, students running on a platform called “Shut It Down” were elected to the presidency and vice presidency of the Ann Arbor campus’s Central Student Government, as well as to two dozen other positions as assembly members. In June, the president vetoed the summer budget, which would have provided funding for student groups. The group is expected to attempt to similarly block requests next month when the student government will reportedly vote on applications for fall funding.

The university’s flagship campus has more than 1,700 registered student groups, many of which apply for and receive awards averaging around $500 to $700 from student government. The student government’s budget of around $800,000 comes mostly from student fees.

A university spokesperson, Colleen Mastony, told The Chronicle by email that the student government’s new president, Alifa Chowdhury, vetoed a budget resolution that had been passed unanimously by the assembly.

Chowdhury, a Michigan senior, said on Monday that she was too busy for an interview because the new semester’s classes were just beginning. But she shared a statement from the “Shut It Down” group.

“By completely halting all operations and working against the tide of normalcy in the face of genocide, we hope to deliver the message that students elected us to convey,” the statement said. “This institution materially contributing to the mass destruction of Gaza and all 12 of its universities is far worse than not receiving student funding, and students are willing to make this sacrifice in protest.”

Sarah Hubbard, a university regent, said in an interview on Monday that the board has heard from student groups that are upset about the possibility that they might have to significantly cut back on their activities if their applications for money are denied.

“This tactic is only hurting other students,” Hubbard said. “The board has been clear in our statements related to the ‘demands’ to divest, that it’s not going to do that.” The regents, she said during a board meeting in March, had considered the students’ concerns, but had decided that it “will continue to shield the endowment from political pressures and base our investment decisions on financial factors such as risk and return.” The university’s endowment totals around $17.9 billion.

“I understand this leadership group was clear about its intentions, but only about 25 percent of the students turned out for that election,” Hubbard added. “We believe that as students come back this fall and find out their funds are being cut that they will be unhappy and expect some changes.”

Activists protesting the Israel-Hamas war and demanding that the university divest converged in May outside Hubbard’s home an hour from the campus, set up tents and shouted slogans through bullhorns, she said. Local police officers were called and the students dispersed, leaving behind body bags, stuffed animals smeared with fake blood, and a broken cradle.

Hubbard, whose board position is unpaid, said that she lives in a residential neighborhood with young families and that she shouldn’t have to worry about her privacy being invaded this way. The protesters argue that such disruption is necessary at a time when the war is raging in Gaza and more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

The University of Michigan is among the campuses that have issued warnings to students that they plan to step up enforcement when protests threaten the safety of students or otherwise cross a line. But it’s also emphasizing its support for the right to protest. The university proposed a new policy banning people from interrupting campus events, activities, and other university operations after protesters heckled the university’s president, Santa J. Ono, during an honors convocation in March. The proposed policy, which many viewed as a threat to free speech, did not move forward.

University officials have been working on ways to temporarily provide student groups with money to support their activities if their funding requests aren’t approved. Over the summer, student-government representatives asked the university’s vice president for student life and dean of students for temporary funding for student groups and “vital student programs that operate from within student government,” Mastony wrote.

“The vice president and dean have notified CSG of their willingness to assist at the request of the assembly and are working to immediately institute a funding process for student organizations to be operated from the Dean of Students office,” the statement read. “CSG would reimburse the university for any funding provided.”

The statement released by Chowdhury said that it’s not up to the new student government leaders to ensure that student groups get the Central Student Government money they apply for. The fate of that funding “lies solely in the hands of the regents, not ours. They have the power to divest, and when they do, CSG funding will resume.”