At Michigan, activists take over and shut down student government
Students were braced for a stalemate. There was an Ultimate Frisbee team without money to compete, an airport shuttle whose cost to students almost doubled without a campus subsidy, and a ballroom dance team unable to rent rehearsal space.
At the University of Michigan, many student activities are usually funded or subsidized by the Central Student Government, known as CSG, an elected undergraduate and graduate council that decides how to dole out roughly $1.3 million annually to about 400 groups.
But last spring, pro-Palestinian activists, running under the Shut It Down party, won control over the student government. They immediately moved to withhold funding for all activities until the university committed to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.
University regents, though, have consistently said that divestment is off the table. And as students returned to school, the campus seemed to be at a virtual standstill.
“It’s incredibly stressful,” said Nicolette Kleinhoffer, president of the ballroom dance team. The team relies on the student government for the majority of its funding, which covers competitions, a coach and rehearsal and performance space.
The student government takeover was a novel strategy for pro-Palestinian activists, who have battled Michigan’s administration as it dismantled encampments and disciplined protesters.
But as classes began, some questioned whether the shutdown would provoke a backlash and what the university would do in response.
The student government’s budget comes not from the university endowment, but from student fees — $11.19 per student each semester. Last year, that money subsidized access to fitness center classes, newspaper subscriptions and an airport shuttle. The student government sponsored a welcome event for the university’s gender and sexuality center, as well as iftars — the daily meal taken at sundown to break the fast during Ramadan — for more than 300 participants.
Last week, there was a temporary workaround. At the request of some student government members, the university’s administration agreed to temporarily fund organizations on the condition that it be fully reimbursed, according to Colleen Mastony, a university spokesperson.
Some students saw something paradoxical in the outcome — and wondered whether student government leaders inadvertently just gave up more power.
“They’ve traded in the chance to have students give out money to having the administration give out money,” said Tyler Watt, a law student who serves in the student assembly, but not as a Shut It Down member.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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