24 | MAY 16 • 2024

“These are supposed to
be the happiest, greatest
weeks and days of our lives,”
Goldstein said. “But anti-Israel
protesters have completely
taken over the Diag. They
shout and spit on Jewish stu-
dents when you walk by. The
university demonstrated in
these weeks that they have
prioritized anti-Israel and
anti-American terrorists over
everyone else.”
Goldstein said that on the
days leading to graduation,
university communications
clearly stated that there would
be no tolerance of disruptions.
“Yet I (and many graduates
around me) could not hear a
single word of what our com-
mencement speaker said. Just a
few rows behind me, protesters
continuously shouted for an
intifada and that the school
was funding genocide.”

SOME POSITIVES DESPITE
THE DISRUPTION
On a positive note, to create a
festive graduation mood for his
fellow Jewish classmates and
their families, Goldstein and
others raised enough money
to bring musician Matisyahu
to perform in his backyard on
Friday night of the weekend.
“We knew that our gradua-
tion was going to be disrupted
in some way,” Goldstein said.
“Because of that, it was more
important than ever to bring
our Jewish graduates and their
families together in a mean-
ingful way, and we were happy
to bring in Matisyahu and sing
with him as the sun set on
Shabbat in my backyard.”
Alissa Citron of West
Bloomfield was in the audience
of celebrants at the Big House
with her husband, Jeff, and
their three children to see their
daughter Aviva graduate.

Citron, who lived in Israel in
the late 1990s, said the inces-
sant chanting for intifada was
particularly disturbing.
“The kids who missed out
on their high school gradua-
tion had to sit directly in front
of the protesters, who were
permitted to shout nonstop
about the intifada,” Citron said.
“Someone sitting near me told
me, ‘They are not chanting for
what you think they mean.’
But I was in Israel during the
Intifada. And to me it means
being murdered in the most
horrible way, of bombing buses
and restaurants. And they
spewed this hate out for the
whole graduation.”
Debbie Goldberg came from
Rochester, N.Y., and celebrated
her son Samuel Zarkowsky’s
graduating with a degree
in economics. As the chief
philanthropic officer of the
Jewish Federation of Rochester,
Goldberg said the constant
hateful slogans shouted during
graduation made her feel
“physically sick” days after she
left Ann Arbor.
“
As a philanthropy profes-
sional, I could not stop think-
ing that some of the (pro-Pal-
estinian protesters) were
able to attend the university

because they received scholar-
ships funded in part by Jewish
donors,” Goldberg said.
“It disturbed me that these
students showed such blatant
disrespect to the university
where they spent four years
studying. So, if this is the hill
these students want to die on,
in my capacity as a philanthro-
py professional, I will now do
all that I can to communicate
through my philanthropy
channels that (Jews divest-
ing from the University of
Michigan) is the only kind
of divestment we should be
talking about.”
Rob Goldenberg of Los
Angeles attended his daughter’s
Ford School of Public Policy
graduation. In the months
leading to graduation, he said
he was speaking with the Ford
School about making a gift in
honor of his daughter’s success.
“I told them I would be
happy to make a gift, but if
there are disruptions in the
ceremony, I am not doing
anything,” Goldenberg said.
“In my talks with some endow-
ment officials, I told them that
a disruption is going to hap-
pen, and you have to stop it.
At graduation, I was horrified
that security corralled the pro-

testers to the back (and did not
remove them) and the univer-
sity thought that was OK. You
had about 100 people ruining
the day for an entire stadium
full of graduation celebrants.
Since then, we have heard
nothing from the university.”
Sam Appelbaum from New
York City said he was “largely
disappointed” that the U-M
administration did not act to
swiftly silence the protesters
who disrupted the graduation
for thousands of graduates and
their loved ones.
“The ceremony for the most
part went very well, (Meltzer)
spoke beautifully, and it was
wonderful to finally enjoy a
graduation,” said Appelbaum,
who will attend New York
University School of Law this
fall. “But the university disap-
pointed me. It is egregious and
unfair that the school cannot
distinguish between heckling
and free speech. It is not a pro-
tected First Amendment right
to disrupt such an event for so
many people.”
Appelbaum objected to the
decision made by the univer-
sity to not remove the “pro-
Hamas” supporters from the
stadium entirely but instead
move them to one area where
they continued to shout and
disturb all those around them.
Still, Appelbaum said he
“has not fallen out of love” for
his alma mater and hopes it
improves in the future.
“I still have a pure love for
Michigan and that it is better
than what is demonstrating
right now,” Appelbaum said.
“I think it is battling a very
serious time of moral confu-
sion, and I believe it will get
through it. But for that to hap-
pen, there needs to be serious
consequences and change.”

OUR COMMUNITY

Jonah Zisholtz of New York, Benny Shevsky of West Bloomfield, Jonah
Gilan of Huntington Woods

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