Anti-Israel students walk out to demand the right to disrupt others' education: 'We’ll disrupt till you divest!'
Pro-Palestine students at the University of Michigan walked out of class in Ann Arbor to protest a policy against disruptive behavior that the university is currently considering.
'We all must understand that, while protest is valued and protected, disruptions are not,' President Santa Ono said in response to students disrupting a university honors ceremony.
On April 4, hundreds of pro-Palestine students at the University of Michigan reportedly walked out of class in Ann Arbor to protest a policy against disruptive behavior that the university is currently considering.
A pro-Palestine campus group, SAFE (Students Allied for Freedom and Equality) UMich, promoted the event in an Instagram post on April 3.
“WALK OUT TOMORROW from class, work, etc at 12:10pm and come to the diag!” the advertisement stated.
“In a day of disruption, show admin that their suppression will not stop us from calling for divestment from companies profiting off the genocide of Palestinians!” SAFE UMich continued. “No more lies, no more threats, we’ll disrupt till you divest!”
According to the Detroit Free Press, the students gathered in opposition to a new university policy that states, “No Person without legal authority may prevent or impede the free flow of persons about campus, whether indoors or outdoors, including any pedestrian, bicycle, or vehicular traffic.”
The Disruptive Activity Policy would also place additional limitations on efforts to “disrupt the University Operations of UM Facilities,” such as “communications or activities of speakers or performers on University Facilities, or of any class, laboratory, seminar, examination, performance, formal proceeding, activity in a reserved space.”
The policy comes after pro-Palestine students disrupted a university honors convocation ceremony on March 24, prompting the draft proposal.
“We all must understand that, while protest is valued and protected, disruptions are not,” Michigan President Santa Ono wrote in response to the display. “One group’s right to protest does not supersede the right of others to participate in a joyous event.”
Previously on March 27, a student demonstration took place protesting in support of anti-Israel divestment from defense contractors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
The TAHRIR coalition, which organized event, describes itself on its website as “a student-led movement advocating for divestment from and boycott of settler colonialism, occupation, mass incarceration, apartheid, and genocide, in Palestine and beyond.”
SAFE UMich posted to Instagram on April 5, reasserting its support for the student demonstrators at the walk-out.
“ONO AND THE REGENTS,” the group’s post began. “Until you DIVEST from the genocide of the Palestinian people, WE WILL DISRUPT.”
“We will SHUT IT DOWN,” the group continued. “Your ‘Disruptive Activity Policy’, your police intimidation tactics, and your HISTORIC criminalization of students who dare to dissent only further unites us in our fight for the liberation of the Palestinian people.”
Campus Reform has contacted the University of Michigan, SAFE UMich, and the TAHRIR Coalition for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
