The University of Michigan’s Central Student Government approved articles of impeachment against its president, Alifa Chowdhury, and vice president, Elias Atkinson, on Tuesday on charges of incitement of violence, cyber theft, and dereliction of duty.
The pair were elected last spring on an anti-Israel platform called Shut It Down, which promised to withhold funding for numerous campus activities, including a food pantry, MCAT and LSAT prep services, and an airport transportation service, until the school agreed to divest from Israel.
Chowdhury and Atkinson were successful in pulling this funding until the student government got involved and defied its top two leaders to restore the funds.
What prompted the charges
In response to the restoration of campus activity funding and the rejection of a proposal to send money from student fees to universities in Gaza, the CSG leaders called on anti-Israel agitators to “pack CSG” at an Oct. 8 meeting and claimed that “Zionist members of CSG” were trying to punish Gaza, stating they “welcome this fight” and “call on you to join us.”
According to the articles of impeachment, these statements “encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — lawless action” at the CSG meeting where anti-Israel protesters “began shouting and amassing on the floor of the Assembly, menaced Members of the Assembly and CSG personnel, and engaged in other violent and destructive acts.”
Those calls to “pack CSG” to join the “fight” against Zionists are what prompted the incitement of violence charge. The articles state they “gravely endangered the security of students.”
After the Oct. 8 meeting, Chowdhury allegedly changed the password of CSG’s Instagram account “without authorization” and made a post praising the anti-Israel agitators and calling their critics Zionists even though, according to the articles of impeachment, many of them are not. That is what prompted the cyber theft charge.
The dereliction of duty charge stems from the pair’s failure to file required reports, complete mandatory trainings, nominate people to mandatory positions, show up to meetings, or do any “meaningful work.” They also misled CSG members by promising to meet with them about the Oct. 8 “harassment” and not following through.
Chowdhury and Atkinson made clear that they had no intention of willingly resigning in a Monday statement, despite facing calls to do so. As a result, sophomore and CSG member Margaret Peterman filed the articles of impeachment against them. The articles passed with 30 in support, seven opposed, one abstaining, and one absent.
The impeachment will go to trial as early as next week in a student judiciary court. If the impeachment is upheld, the CSG assembly’s speaker, Mario Thaqi, would take over as president.
“This has never happened before — impeaching a sitting president or vice president,” he said Tuesday after the vote to impeach. He added that “it speaks volumes” about the conduct of Chowdhury and Atkinson.
Growing anti-Israel trend at the University of Michigan
The University of Michigan has been a hotbed for campus antisemitism following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. Several Jewish students have been attacked on or near campus, including one student who was allegedly asked if he was Jewish before being assaulted.
The University of Michigan was investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The civil rights office found that the school failed to comply with Title VI in its handling of antisemitic incidents.
The OCR investigated 75 complaints of harassment at the University of Michigan, many targeting Jewish students. Officials found that very few had even been investigated by the university.
One complaint involved a demonstration on campus where protesters shouted about “Nazi liberation.” Another involved an anti-Israel professor posting a screenshot showing a Jewish student with an Israeli flag in his bio viewed his Instagram story, along with the caption, “Did you like my educational talk.”
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The OCR did not find evidence that the first complaint had been addressed apart from forwarding the report to the school’s Office of Public Affairs. It also concluded that the school did not sufficiently respond to the professor’s Instagram conduct, as the University of Michigan opted not to weigh in on the situation.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the University of Michigan’s Central Student Government for comment.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
