University of Michigan student leaders who vowed to block funding for campus groups profiting from the Israel-Hamas war have been impeached just nine months after making their ill-fated pledges.
Both President Alifa Chowdhury and Vice President Elias Atkinson, part of the Shut it Down Party, faced impeachment after a student judicial hearing that spanned seven days and more than 20 hours.
The two were found guilty on a single charge of dereliction of duty after they campaigned on and successfully blocked funding for campus activities until the university divested from companies linked to Israel.
The takeover of the student government from pro-Palestinian activists last spring rocked the school as waves of antisemitism and anti-Israel behavior continued to sweep over college and university campuses.
The activists’ campaign to divest from Israel-supporting groups alienated many Michigan students who believed Chowdhury and Atkinson’s obstructionism went too far and did not actually help the Palestinian cause.
Michigan adopted an official stance of institutional neutrality in October, pledging not to take a stance on political or social issues that were not connected to the school. The student government restored funding for campus activities in a blow to Chowdhury and Atkinson, who had moved to withhold $1.3 million in annual funding for months to protest the war.
Many student groups, including Ultimate Frisbee, ballroom dancing, and the Black Undergraduate Kinesiology Association, were in limbo due to the pause in funding, putting them at risk of being unable to travel to games, rent rehearsal spaces, or provide outreach to students.
Tiya Berry, an Arab American member of the student assembly, told the New York Times she agreed with Chowdhury and Atkinson’s political stance but believed their methods unnecessarily hurt students.
“They look like extremists,” Berry told the outlet.
The seven-day, 20-hour impeachment hearing set off a debate regarding the gray area between free speech and incitement. The motion accused Chowdhury and Atkinson of “incitement of violence” for encouraging members to attend the Oct. 8 meeting called to reinstate the $1.3 million in campus activity funds.
Margaret Peterman, a sophomore member of the student assembly who led the impeachment motion, said Chowdhury joined the protesters in a manner that encouraged verbal attacks and threatening language. One assembly member was spat on by a protester, Peterman told the New York Times.
“There is a line between free speech and hate speech, between engaging in your rights as a student and as an American to disagree as vehemently as you might want to, and crossing that line into threatening someone,” Peterman said.
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Members of the Shut It Down Party blasted the impeachment. Kaitlin Karmen resigned from the student assembly after the vote, arguing that “Being uncomfortable doesn’t mean you’re experiencing violence.” Danah Owaida, a Palestinian, said her time in the assembly was met with indifference from her fellow leaders.
“As a Palestinian, it’s a dismissal all the time,” she said.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
