By Michael Duke | Campus Reform | September 5, 2024
A pro-Israel organization criticized the University of Michigan’s student government for withholding funds from student organizations until the school divests from Israel.
Alifa Chowdhury, the student body president, froze funding for student groups over the summer after vetoing the proposed budget of $800,000 until the university completely divests from Israel., according to the University Herald.
The CEO of StandWithUs, a pro-Israel education organization, told Campus Reform that Chowdhury’s action constitutes as a “gross abuse of power.”
“The University of Michigan’s Central Student Government’s (CSG) decision to withhold funds collected through student activity fees, effectively blocking student organizations from functioning, is a gross abuse of power,” said StandWithUs CEO Roz Rothstein. “Even worse, they have put the student body on hold because they seek to participate in a discriminatory boycott campaign aimed at punishing Israel for the ongoing war with Hamas, the terrorist group that invaded Israel and brutally massacred 1200 people and refuses to release over 100 hostages back to their families.”
Rothstein added, “The University must ensure open access to all student funding or it must immediately allow all students to receive refunds on the fees they contributed to CSG until these abuses of power are put to an end.”
Chowdhury told The Detroit News that she wanted to “really to send a message to regents that you can’t just give us, student government leaders, a lump sum on money and expect us to stay silent with that. The point of student government is to make our voices heard.”
Chowdhury added that she is asking administrators and the board of regents to “divest,” explaining once the university does “everything can go back to normal.”
In the meantime, administrators are temporarily funding student organizations under the condition that the money is reimbursed, according to the New York Times.
Read the full article here.
