Pro-Palestinian student government representatives at the University of Michigan (UofM) are refusing to fund campus organizations until the school divests from the war in Israel, despite the fact the student councilâs budget comes from student fees and not the universityâs endowment, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
Last spring, pro-Palestinian activists won control of UofMâs student council, and, in an effort to pressure the administration to meet their divestment demands, froze much of the roughly $1.3 million in funding the council is supposed to distribute to student groups, the NYT reported. Now, campus organizations like the Ultimate Frisbee and ballroom dance teams have been stripped of funding, even though the budget for the activities comes from student fees, which are not connected to the universityâs endowment or its investments.
âIt feels a little silly to me to refuse to hand out money thatâs coming from students to help students,â Gabriel Scheck, president and captain of the menâs Ultimate Frisbee team, told the NYT in reference to the fact UofMâs student government is funded by an $11.19 per-student fee paid each semester.
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The Pro-Palestinian activist âShut It Downâ party won the presidency, vice presidency, and 22 of the 45 assembly seats in the UofM student government election in March, according to the NYT. Just 20% of UofM students turned out to vote.
âThere are people, and I talked to one or two of them, who walked by that encampment and who were worried about where they were going to get their next meal,â Gabriel Ervin, a UofM student who unsuccessfully ran for student government president last spring using a pro-labor platform, told the NYT. Meanwhile, he said, âall the supposedly worker-oriented and left-wing organizations on campus spend all their resources on a war that they had no effect on.â
Now, the administration is stepping in and loaning money to some of the roughly 400 student groups UofMâs Central Student Government (CSG) had been responsible for funding, the NYT reported.
The various pro-Palestinian activism movements come after the university increased its diversity, equity and inclusion spending 66% from $18 million to $30 million between the 2022-2023 school year and the 2023-2024 academic year.
The University of Michigan and the UofM Central Student Government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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