Protesters swarm UM administration building to demand 'humanity for Palestinians'
Jakkar AimeryAnn Arbor — Hundreds of protesters demanding that the University of Michigan stop investing in companies that fund military operations in Israel swarmed the university's administration building late Friday afternoon.
Chanting with bullhorns to the beat of drums and waving banners and signs that read "Anti-Zionism does not equal Anti-Semitism," the demonstrators descended on Ruthven Hall, where President Santa Ono's office and the university's central administrative operations are located. A small group of student protestors remained in the building demanding to meet with Ono until after 9 p.m. when they were escorted out by police.Demonstrators could be heard in rapid succession doing call-and-response chants: "Ono, Ono, you can't hide, you're supporting genocide" and "Fund our education, not the occupation."
The Palestinian advocacy group Students Allied for Freedom and Equality this week advertised the emergency protest "to demand that the university divest from companies that fund and participate in the genocide of the Palestinian people."
"President Ono, it's been over 40 days of us trying to contact you. When will you meet with the 54+ student organizations demanding humanity for Palestinians?" read a video caption posted to SAFE's Instagram Stories during the protest.
A university spokesman said the building's occupants had safely left the premises.
"Late this afternoon, a group of pro-Palestinian protesters forcefully gained access to a locked Ruthven Administration Building," spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said in a statement. "U-M Police report building occupants have safely left the building and officers are working to restore order to the building."
Michigan State Police and Ann Arbor Police did not immediately respond Friday for comment.
UM Police said in a statement that approximately 200 protestors entered Ruthven around 4:00 p.m. UM Police, Ann Arbor Police, the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office, Eastern Michigan University Police, Michigan State Police and Pittsfield Department of Public Safety were on the scene, according to the statement.
"At about 7:30 p.m., officers began providing multiple warnings, informing protesters to leave the premises or be subject to arrest. The vast majority did leave, while some chose to stay," read a statement from UM Police. Police said a total of 40 arrests were made and two injuries to officers reported. Those arrested were processed and released at the scene, and the building was emptied and secured by around 10:30 p.m.
Student sit-in at Ono's office
Post-baccalaureate medical student Paige Feyock said student protesters had been demonstrating since 2 p.m. Friday across the campus, starting at the Diag before marching to Ruthven Hall.
"(Police) would not let us in, however, various people who showed up to the demonstration were able to get inside the building," Feyock said. "As time has gone on, they swept people out of the building."
Feyock and another protestor described the police use of force to remove students from the building as "brutal."
"We feel that the police response was extremely disproportionate to what we were doing — we were simply peacefully protesting," said Zaynab Elkolaly, a UM senior who was handcuffed and ticketed.
At 9 p.m., an Instagram live feed hosted by the UM chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace showed a group of protestors seated outside of Ono's office, still asking to meet with him. One member of the group said they had been there since 4 p.m. At around 9:20 p.m., after the group was given a five-minute warning to leave the building or be subject to arrest, police officers began to escort the students from the office.
Several students left the building around 10 p.m. with trespass citations after being arrested by police and barred from the building for one year.
UM senior Zakariya Alem was one of the group of about 23 students who sat outside on the floor outside Ono's office, singing, chanting and awaiting the president's appearance.
"We were just waiting for Ono to come and maybe speak to us like he speaks to everyone else," Alem said. "Its his job to speak to us; we are students at the university, we pay to go here."
Alem, who was also barred from the building, said the group of protesters on the third floor was made up of Muslims and Jews. Alem, who said the protestors were not allowed food, water or to use the restroom, said looking out of the windows and seeing the crowd outside fueled the group indoors and gave them "hope."
"Unlike Ono, in his office, I felt heard by people other than Ono," Alem said. "This moment shows that Ono is more willing to arrest his students than to speak with them."
Protestors demand divestment as tensions rise
SAFE organizers were joined Friday by a coalition of 54 student organizations across UM's campus who criticized the university for not divesting its capital in Israel amid the county's bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Some protestors accused the Ann Arbor school of having "double standards" for not mirroring its response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In March 2022, the school announced it would stand in solidarity with Ukraine and would divest from Russia as the country's invasion of Ukraine escalated.
UM had about $40 million invested with a group called Russia Partners, spokesman Rick Fitzgerald had said. The investments were made in 2009 and 2012 and represented less than 0.25% of UM's total endowment.
"They divested from Russia within a week of Russia invading Ukraine; they have double standards. Tonight, they need to accept or acknowledge at all that what's going on in Palestine is not good," said UM senior Eissa Haydar.
It was not the first time campus protestors rallied at Ruthven. On Oct. 25, as part of a national walkout, students left their classes and gathered on the Diag before marching to the administration building and demanding to meet with Ono, as reported in the Michigan Daily.
The protest comes as tensions have been rising on Michigan universities over the Israel-Hamas war.
"There are a lot of students who do have family members in Palestine, myself included," said Salma Hamamy, a Palestinian-American and president of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality at UM, told The Detroit News recently. "You can't mentally check your phone and see our family members kind of being blown up into pieces, and then go right back to doing your reading for your next class."
At the same time, some Jewish students say there is a heightened sense of fear and stress on campus and view some anti-Israel messages as anti-Semitic.
“I feel like every emotion is very heightened. Whether it be like a frustration and sadness, or the kind of that sense of community or … the desire to be with other students,” said Yitzi Zolty, a senior and member of the UM Jewish Resource Center. “I think there's a built-in fear, for sure, that's been exacerbated recently… on campus.”
In addition to divestment from companies like Lockheed Martin that manufacture Israel's military equipment, SAFE has demanded that the UM administration recognize Israel's attacks on Gaza as genocide.
On Oct. 10, Ono sent a message to the campus community in which he condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians, saying "Violence is never the answer."
"Yet today our campus communities are reeling in the wake of the horrific attack by Hamas terrorists on Israeli citizens and the immense loss of civilian lives.
"This violence has caused profound pain within the internationally and culturally diverse University of Michigan community. It is almost certain that more innocent civilians will lose their lives as the fighting escalates."Ono added: "Many members of our university community are personally affected by these events, and we encourage students to be conscious, kind and compassionate to their peers during this difficult time. We encourage faculty and staff to demonstrate understanding and accommodation for those affected by this violence."
Staff writers Anne Snabes and Hannah Mackay contributed.
jaimery@detroitnews.com