hostages that are still there. It’s
a very difficult environment to
be in right now.
”
Sari Rosenberg, a U-M
junior and chair of U-M Hillel’s
Undergraduate Governing
Board, says the first week or
two after Oct. 7 were very
tense. Many Jewish students
skipped classes because they
were so upset and horrified by
everything happening that it
felt unproductive to be there.
In October, the University
of Michigan’s Central Student
Government (CSG) was asked
to consider a BDS-like petition
created by the Palestinian stu-
dent organization on campus.
Resolution 13-025, titled
“University Accountability in
the Face of Genocide,
” among
its other calls to action, asked
the university to “recognize the
millions of people undergoing
genocide in Gaza as we speak”
and to “acknowledge that 75+
years of Palestinian-Israeli
tensions have been created
through systems of settler colo-
nialism.
”
With the assistance of Hillel
and other Jewish organizations,
Jewish students on campus cre-
ated their own resolution.
Resolution 13-026, titled
“CSG Response to Atrocities
in the Middle East,
” among its
other calls to action, request-
ed that the university and its
regents “continue to lend sup-
port to all students impacted
by ongoing violence in Israel
and Gaza and throughout the
region” and called upon the
university to “share broadly
their short-term and long-term
plans to keep all students safe
in their homes, in their classes,
and on the broader campus.
”
Multiple meetings were held
with CSG. One of them lasted
over five hours during which
about 50 students were able
to speak from both sides and
share their experiences.
It was eventually decided
that, following Thanksgiving
break, the competing resolu-
tions would be voted on by the
entirety of the student popu-
lation on the CSG midterm
ballot.
After two days of voting
had already taken place, the
University of Michigan can-
celed the election process for
the two ballot initiatives after
finding that an email violated
the University’s Responsible
Use of Information Resources
policy.
This happened after a coa-
lition of more than 60 student
organizations filled out a form
to request the university email
system to send a message
to U-M Ann Arbor’s entire
undergraduate student body
— urging them to vote yes on
resolution 13-025 and vote no
on 13-026.
In a follow-up communica-
tion to the U-M student body,
Timothy Lynch, U-M vice
president and general counsel,
referred to the email as “unau-
thorized” and said it “irrepara-
bly tainted the voting process
on the two resolutions.
”
“We do not know and never
will know the voting results
on these two resolutions. But,
under the circumstances, the
university has been left with
no alternative but to cancel the
portion of the election process
for these two resolutions,
”
Lynch said.
While Rosenberg says Jewish
students are happy the vote was
canceled, they believed from
the beginning it shouldn’t have
been happening in the first
place.
“There’s a lot of hateful
rhetoric still going around,
”
Rosenberg said. “
And a lot of
frustration. Feelings are just
very high all around.
”
On the afternoon of Nov.
17, hundreds of protesters
demanding the University of
Michigan stop investing in
companies that fund military
operations in Israel forcefully
gained access to the locked uni-
versity administration building
where U-M President Santa
Ono’s office is located.
With chants saying Ono sup-
ports genocide, while also hav-
ing banners and signs that read
“
Anti-Zionism does not equal
Anti-Semitism,
” a small group
of student protestors remained
in the building demanding to
DECEMBER 14 • 2023 | 15
continued on page 16
LEFT: Pro-Hamas flyers on
U-M campus shows children
allegedly “murdered by Israel.”
RIGHT: A display on U-M’s
campus put on by the Israeli
community of Ann Arbor.