ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY THREE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM michigandaily.com
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Ann Arbor, Michigan
ADMINISTRATION
U-M students hold kick-off rally for the Divest! Don’t Arrest People’s Referendum
40 UMich students attend rally on the Diag in support of the referendum JI HOON CHOI & EDRA TIMMERMAN Daily News Editor & Daily Staff Reporter
About 40 University of Michigan students and Ann Arbor residents gathered at the Diag Wednesday afternoon for a rally kickstarting the Divest! Don’t Arrest People’s Referendum. The referendum is open to current students, faculty and staff on all U-M campuses. It comes in response to the University’s cancellation of two Central Student Government resolutions in the fall 2023 CSG elections and the arrest of more than 40 pro-Palestine student protesters. The rally was held by the Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, TAHRIR Coalition, Jewish Voice For Peace, and the Graduate Employees’ Organization. The referendum would call on the University to divest from all companies from investing in Israeli companies, call on the Board of Regents to release records of all investments made every fiscal year and to request Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit to drop all charges against pro-Palestine student protestors. The University used parts of its endowment to invest in companies such as Cobham and Ultra Electronics which participated in manufacturing F-35 warplanes that were used in the bombardments of Gaza and Shield AI which produces self-piloting drones used by the Israeli Occupation Forces. Rackham student Ira Anwar said in a speech at the rally that the administration has consistently suppressed student calls for divestment. “Not only have they told us divestment is impossible, they would rather unleash dozens of police officers on their own students and check us with felony charges rather than have a conversation about divesting from the genocide,” Anwar said. Anwar said it is important that the University be held accountable for their
TESS CROWLEY/Daily A crowd listens to speakers as they discuss the Don’t Arrest People’s Referendum on the Diag Wednesday afternoon. The referendum, led by the TAHRIR Coalition, calls for the University to divest from from companies that fund Israel and to drop all charges against pro-Palestinian student activists.
investments. “We are here today, just as Palestinians have been (in Palestine) every single day for the past 100 years resisting colonialism, just as you all have been here every day in the past few months despite the felony charges (against protesters),” Anwar said. “Despite whatever the fuck this University’s Regents, Santa Ono and Erik fucking Lundberg will have us believe, we know the Palestinian struggle is our struggle.” Engineering junior Jenin Alameddin, SAFE political activism co-chair, said, though relatively new, the Divest! Don’t Arrest initiative has garnered widespread support on campus. “The Divest! Don’t Arrest campaign launched only a
NEWS BRIEFS
AAPD responds to shooting on the 200 Block of North Main Street One adult male was shot and transported to Michigan Medicine after the incident THE MICHIGAN DAILY NEWS STAFF
This is a developing situation and will be updated as more information becomes available. UPDATE 3/24 6:09 p.m.: The shooting poses no threat to the community according to an AAPD update on X. The shooting occurred after a male and female were in an argument on the 200 Block of N. Main and another male intervened. The male involved in the argument shot the individual who intervened. The victim left the scene and
GOT A NEWS TIP? E-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know.
drove to the 400 block of E. Huron. Officers have not yet located a suspect. The Ann Arbor Police Department has responded to a shooting in the 200 Block of North Main Street. One adult male was shot and transported to the University of Michigan Hospital, according to an AAPD post on X at 5:37 p.m. Police have not confirmed any arrests to The Michigan Daily. Correction (3/24) at 6:51 p.m.: A previous version of this article stated that the victim left the scene and drove to the 400 block of N. Main. The victim drove to the 400 block of E. Huron Street.
Follow The Daily on Instagram, @michigandaily
month ago,” Alameddin said. “Since then, nearly 3,000 people have registered. Every day these numbers grow; there’s an awakening across our campus.” The rally ended with the attendees chanting “Divest, don’t arrest” and clapping before attendees split into smaller groups to pass out flyers in University buildings including Mason Hall, the Ross School of Business and the Michigan Union. Engineering junior Hera Akmal, who attended the rally, spoke to The Michigan Daily in an interview and discussed the importance of student voices being heard. “I have been really passionate about divestment ever since I became a student here,”
Akmal said. “I think that as students, we have a say in where our tuition money and where the endowment goes. I think if we find it to be morally contradictory with our own values, we have a right to voice that.” LSA junior Alex Sepulveda, activism chair for Jewish Voice for Peace said in an interview to The Daily after the rally. Sepulveda said he believes the Jewish community on campus should support the divestment referendum. “As a Jewish student, it is imperative that we mobilize as an anti-Zionist Jewish resistance to American imperialism because the American imperial agenda relies upon the weaponization and anti-simitism and
commodification of the Jewish identity to … fortify and preserve the Israeli apartheid state,” Sepulveda said. LSA sophomore Levi Pierpont, who attended the rally, said it is important to pay attention. “We as the students of the University of Michigan get to make our voice heard,” Pierpont said. “(The University is) not just investing in Israeli genocide and Israeli apartheid; they’re also investing in defense mechanisms that the U.S. military uses. So war companies, companies that their whole thing is just creating things that kill people, and many of those people that are killed are completely innocent.” Pierpont said they believe the Divest! Don’t Arrest campaign has served to increase student
awareness of University investments and endowment. “I am concerned about the (investments) in Israel. People just don’t know it, but The Divest! Don’t Arrest campaign first uncovered these facts about the endowment and realized how deeply invested (the University) was in all of the awful stuff going on in Israel,” Pierpont said. “They are also now giving us the opportunity to make our voice heard and say this isn’t right.” When asked about the University’s investment and endowment policies, University spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen wrote in an email to The Daily the University’s financial decisions are apolitical.
ReadmoreatMichiganDaily.com
ADMINISTRATION
About 100 gather for Union Solidarity Rally on Diag ‘In solidarity against the one employer’
SNEHA DHANDAPANI Daily News Editor
100 labor union members and allies gathered on the Diag Saturday afternoon in solidarity against their one common employer: the University of Michigan. U-M students, faculty and community members gathered to hear from union representatives to promote solidarity among unions against the University. The rally, which included the Lecturers’ Employees Organization, United Michigan Medicine Allied Professionals, Graduate Employees’ Organization, Service Employees International Union Healthcare Michigan and the U-M Professional Nurse Council, began on the Diag before marching down State Street. The event was organized by the U-M chapter of Young Democratic Socialists Association and People’s
Michigan. The rally kicked off with remarks from speakers representing each of the participating labor unions. In her opening speech, LEO president Kirsten Herold, lecturer for the School of Public Health, said lecturers have seen salary increases since first unionizing in 2004. “I want to tell you a little bit about what life was like for lecturers before our first contract in 2004,” Herold said. “Salaries of $14,000–$16,000 a year for a full teaching load. … There was really no job security. … We had no recourse if you got fired because you work contingent and temporary, and there was no support if you want to go to conferences or other things that cost money. Because of collective bargaining, we now have starting salaries in the low ($50,000s).” LEO began its sixth bargaining cycle with the University in October. The union is expected to come to an agreement with the University
For more stories and coverage, visit
michigandaily.com
INDEX
ARUSHI SANGHi/Daily Jason Kosnoski, professor of political science at U-M Flint with his daughter at the Union Solidarity Rally on the Diag Saturday Afternoon.
for an updated contract by April 20. LEO signed their current contract in 2021, and ratified it in 2022. In their current negotiations, LEO is focused on higher wages, better working conditions and, most recently, pay parity among the three U-M campuses.
Vol. CXXXIV No. 20 ©2024 The Michigan Daily
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, international studies lecturer David Zeglen said he hopes the rally will bring attention to the pay disparity among workers doing similar jobs on different U-M campuses. Read more at MichiganDaily.com
N E W S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 ARTS.............................4 MIC ..............................7
OPINION..................9 SPORTS...................11