22 | APRIL 11 • 2024 

comes through in time for graduation. 
Echoing Lopatin’s disgust of the two inci-
dents — Hamamy’s genocidal Instagram 
post and the disruption of the ceremony — 
was the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) at 
the national and state level. 
In an open letter with requests for signa-
tures that will be sent to Ono’s office, ADL 
Michigan Director Carolyn 
Normandin said: “These 
episodes are just the latest in 
a string of unanswered inci-
dents of antisemitism on the 
University of Michigan’s Ann 
Arbor campus. And it’s beyond 
time for the university to take 
decisive, clear action. The university must 
act immediately to protect the Jewish com-
munity, uphold campus rituals for the entire 
university community and make it clear that 
hate is unacceptable on campus.
” 
Normandin called on the university to 
take immediate action to hold students 
accountable for violations of the institution’s 
code of conduct or other applicable laws, 
including in connection with the disruption 
of the convocation, issue a clear plan for how 
graduation ceremonies will go undisturbed 
and promise the safety and wellbeing of 
Jewish students and faculty. 

STUDENTS RESPOND 
The JN interviewed sophomores Shayna 
Foreman of West Bloomfield and Ann 
Jacoby of Seattle over the phone as they 
studied over coffee at a campus Starbucks 
the Sunday following the convocation. Both 
said they were growing increasingly afraid 

and disturbed by the incessant 
protests led by SAFE and allied 
organizations. 
Foreman, 19, a public health 
major, was angry at how the 
protesters shut down the con-
vocation. 
They became so aggressive 
that they almost had a physical altercation on 
the floor level of the auditorium, she added. 
Adding to the grim feelings was the recent 
victory of a swath of pro-Palestinian activists 
in the recent student body elections. 
Foreman said she and many students are 
saddened that the “Shut it Down Coalition” 
overwhelmingly won the Central Student 
Government elections. The coalition seeks 
to halt all funding for student groups until 
the university divests its holdings from 
Israeli companies. Pro-Palestinian groups are 
arguing that by investing in some companies 
that provide military and defense resources 
to Israel, the university is complicit in the 
deaths of civilians in Gaza. Pro-Palestinian 
activists categorize these deaths as genocide. 
“The last week’s events have been very 
depressing,
” Foreman said. “Jewish students 
are turning in toward each other with groups 
like Wolverines for Israel, Hillel, Chabad and 
the Jewish Resource Center. They are joining 
forces to create support and community for 

Jewish students. It is helpful to surround 
yourselves with Jewish friends so you can 
feel that support.
” 
Foreman said she is a regular attendee of 
Shabbat services and dinner at Hillel, where 
she sees more new faces each week. 
Jacoby, a media and communications 
major in the College of Literature, Science 
and Arts (LSA), was one of the honorees at 
the convocation. Her parents, who had flown 
in for the weekend, sat in the balcony. From 
the beginning of the event, Jacoby said “it felt 
like a storm was brewing.
” 
“There was so much yelling at Ono when 
he got up to speak,
” Jacoby said. “People were 
accusing him of genocide. Protesters were 
getting in the faces of others, including my 
dad. Unfortunately, a lot of the protesters 
who were yelling were Jewish and used that 
point to counter (Zionism). I 
think they are brainwashed and 
very misguided. That is very 
upsetting.
” 
Jacoby said she joined her 
family outside the auditorium 
at a reception. Protesters sur-
rounded the reception and con-
tinued their shouting, which “ruined what 
should have been a day to make a happy 
memory.
” 

continued on page 24

Anna 
Jacoby

OUR COMMUNITY

ABOVE: One of the many anti-
Israel posters ubiquitous on 
the Ann Arbor campus. RIGHT: 
Audience members were warned 
not to disrupt the Honors 
Convocation ceremony, yet they 
did anyway without consequence.

continued from page 21

Carolyn 
Normandin 

Shayna 
Foreman

