TAHRIR Coalition holds press conference to discuss disciplinary action against students, administration response to demonstrations

The University of Michigan TAHRIR Coalition held a press conference Monday at the First United Methodist Church to discuss ongoing legal and disciplinary actions that have been taken against members of the community who participated in the Gaza solidarity encampment as well as students present at a November demonstration at the Alexander G. Ruthven building.

The Nov. 17 sit-in at Ruthven resulted in the arrest of 40 protesters. Four more protesters were arrested and detained at the Washtenaw County Jail following the sweeping of the Gaza solidarity encampment. Separately, the University has brought disciplinary action against a number of students involved in these demonstrations.

The TAHRIR Coalition claimed that dozens of students have received notice from the University’s Office of Student Conflict Resolution notifying them of potential violations of the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities, in some cases resulting in students being banned from campus. TAHRIR also alleged that these complaints were filed by an outside consultant from Grand River Solutions, who was later hired by the University, and that, in some cases, these complaints were filed after the six-month deadline, violating two of OSCR’s guidelines. 

In an email to The Michigan Daily, University spokesperson Colleen Mastony said the students arrested for trespassing on Nov. 17 are now being held accountable through OSCR, and that no violations of OSCR’s procedures have occurred. 

“Students who were arrested for trespassing that day are now part of the Office of Student Conflict Resolution accountability process,” Mastony wrote. “These students are being afforded appropriate due process protections, including but not limited to notice of the allegations against them, the opportunity to be heard and the right to an appeal. The University has not deprived students of these rights.”

Mastony said a staffer from a third party has since been hired by the University to aid in the process of resolving the cases. 

“U-M has engaged a third party, Grand River Solutions, to assist in the student accountability process,” Mastony wrote. “A Grand River Solutions staffer is now an employee of the university and will represent U-M in bringing these cases to resolution.”

Mastony also said the six-month deadline for submitting a complaint through OSCR can be overridden by a resolution coordinator as per the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities.

“According to the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities, complaints should be submitted to a resolution coordinator, in writing, within six months after the incident alleged in the complaint,” Mastony wrote. “However a resolution coordinator may waive the six-month limitation, which is what happened in this case.” 

Rackham student Jared Eno, a TAHRIR member, opened the press conference by condemning the response of University President Santa Ono and the Board of Regents to pro-Palestine demonstrations. Eno said that the administration has failed to engage in conversation with members of the coalition, despite assurances from President Ono and others that they are open to speaking with students.

“At no point have Ono or the Regents met with the TAHRIR Coalition to engage in dialogue,” Eno said. “Instead, they have used any tool that they can find to try and repress and silence us. Their go-to tool has been the police, because the police can and do use violence with impunity.”

Eno also alleged that the University administration has contacted Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in their pursuit to press felony charges against students involved in pro-Palestine demonstrations on campus.

“We have also learned that the Regents have gone to the Michigan State Attorney General Dana Nessel and has asked her to press charges against people who are protesting U-M’s support for the genocide,” Eno said.

U-M alum Simrun Bose cited apparent disciplinary claims that have been brought on students, including herself, for the Nov. 17 demonstration. Bose said the complaints were not an appropriate response to the events of the protest. 

“The complaints state that these students violated two University policies,” Bose said. “The first is ‘obstructing or disrupting classes, research projects or other activities or programs of the University or obstructing access to University facilities, property or programs.’ This violation is especially ridiculous because it was in fact the University that locked the public building hours before it closes in order to deny students the ability to ask the president of their own university to meet with them.” 

Bose said that despite legal and disciplinary action taken by the University, TAHRIR’s action and the pro-Palestinian movement more broadly would not be affected.

“Our movement cannot be intimidated, not by the cops, not by the courts and definitely not by this ridiculous disciplinary process,” Bose said. “We can’t be intimidated because we know what we’re fighting for is right.”

Rackham student Rhiannon Willow recounted how she was treated by police during the sweep of the Gaza solidarity encampment. Willow said that, in the course of being removed from the Diag and arrested, she sustained a concussion.

“Even though I was off the Diag at the time, in the area which the police had designated as a safe zone to evacuate to, the police forcefully dragged me by the arm, threw me to the ground, kneed me in the lungs and handcuffed me,” Willow said “They slammed my forehead and chin forcefully against the ground, which caused a long-lasting and extremely debilitating concussion as well as injuries to my neck and jaw which have still not fully healed.”

Willow also emphasized that the police response when the encampment was raided has not deterred those calling for the University to divest.

“I will make one point abundantly clear to the U-M Board of Regents and President Ono,” Willow said. “We have no intention of giving up. When you attack one of us we all feel it, and it only galvanizes us further into action.”

Professor Stephen Ward, director of the Residential College and associate professor of Afroamerican and American studies, expressed his regret at the loss of the Gaza solidarity encampment, which he said embodied everything that the University should be.

“What they created is the best of what we try to do in classrooms and beyond,” Ward said. “They studied, they taught, they expressed critical thinking and they were there to help us all try to build a better world. They built a community of love and human solidarity. And I want to thank them for doing that and raise up and share with you all and let it be known. What a beautiful thing that they created.”

During a period of questions at the end of the press conference, Eno told The Daily that the University must meet the needs of the student body by opening conversation with student organizations, including the TAHRIR Coalition.

“We invite (the Regents) to meet with the coalition in an open space where we could have a real discussion about their position and what we should do with this university’s public resources,” Eno said. “But (they must) drop the charges, divest now and treat us like human beings.”

Summer News Editor Bronwyn Johnston can be reached at jbronwyn@umich.edu. 

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