Pro-Palestinian students have assumed control of student government at the University of Michigan with the return to fall classes, suspending funding for student groups until the administration agrees to divest from, and boycott, Israel.
The New York Times reported Tuesday:
At the University of Michigan, many student activities are usually funded or subsidized by the Central Student Government, known as C.S.G., an elected undergraduate and graduate council that decides how to dole out roughly $1.3 million annually to about 400 groups.
But last spring, pro-Palestinian activists, running under the Shut It Down party, won control over the student government. They immediately moved to withhold funding for all activities, until the university committed to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s war in Gaza.
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Some of the almost two dozen groups that endorsed Shut It Down were also at risk of losing funding, including Students Organize for Syria, the Muslim Students Association and United Students Against Sweatshops.
The student government’s stance has added to a tense atmosphere on campus. On Wednesday, four pro-Palestinian activists were arrested during a protest on the campus’s main quad, known as the Diag.
The Detroit Free Press reported:
Police arrested four pro-Palestinian protesters Wednesday at the University of Michigan after a group tried to disrupt a university event, a school official said.
During a Festifall event being held Wednesday afternoon, some protesters who oppose Israel showed up at the Diag and started demonstrating. The group of about 50 protesters were asked to disperse, Colleen Mastony, assistant vice president for public affairs, told the Free Press. None of the four arrested were students, Mastony said.
The university has refused to divest, as students vow to continue their protests.
