University bypasses pro-Palestinian student leaders’ blockade, reinstating funds to 60+ groups through an ‘alternative source’
The University of Michigan restored funding for campus groups through an “alternative source” after the student government blocked funds to demand divestment from Israel-linked companies.
“Funding for registered student organizations remains available for fall term,” Colleen Mastony, assistant vice president for public affairs, told The College Fix in an email statement.
The university established a temporary process to ensure groups could apply for support until the Central Student Government passes its budget, Mastony stated.
“More than 60 student organizations have inquired about funding so far this term, and university funding for student organizations will remain in place until the Central Student Government passes its budget,” she stated.
The CSG’s website still states that “student organization funding is suspended.” It directs students to a form where they can “sign up to address the Assembly and President about the matter.”
“However, similar funding to what has historically been offered is available through an alternative source,” the website states. It also directs students to a link where they can apply for funding.
The College Fix reached out to student groups at UM, including Turning Point USA, College Republicans, and Young America’s Foundation. None responded to requests for comment on how the student government’s actions have impacted them via email in the last two weeks.
The College Fix also contacted the UM CSG via email to ask about the rationale behind suspending student organization funding. The CSG directed The Fix back to the school’s public affairs office.
Yaakov Menken, the director of Coalition for Jewish Values, told The Fix in an email statement that UM “made the right decision.”
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“It also reacted correctly when the chapter of ‘Jewish Voice for Peace,’ which is neither Jewish nor pro-peace, called for ‘death to Israel,'” Menken stated.
“The University President condemned the statement, noted that the group has not been recognized or funded for years, and had its name removed from the list of student organizations,” he stated.
Menken also told The Fix students are no longer “protesting for actual human rights or fighting actual genocides” as “they are too busy favoring genocide against Jews.”
“In earlier decades students protested genocide in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur, and they had an impact. Yet the state of global human rights has been on a steady downward trajectory for nearly two decades, during which Uygher Muslims, Syrian Muslims, Yazhidis, and Sahrawis have gotten next to no attention on campus,” he stated.
He also stated that “antisemitism” was originally a German euphemism used to give age-old bigotry an “academic veneer.” Now “anti-Israel” is another way of doing the same thing—demonizing Jews “simply for adhering to Jewish values.”
The newly installed student government president at the University of Michigan blocked funding to campus groups this summer to protest Israel, as previously reported by The Fix.
The student leaders were elected in the spring as part of the pro-Palestinian “Shut It Down” movement, which aims to demand the school’s divestment.
Students and staff criticized the decision to block student group funds using veto power, prompting administrators to explore alternative funding options.
Some faculty also demanded that the school “divest from its financial holdings in companies that invest in Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza” earlier this year.
Meanwhile, a group of Jewish students at UM is creating a private security service after three recent, allegedly antisemitic attacks on campus. The “makeshift security service” will escort Jewish students on the Ann Arbor campus, The Fix reported.
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IMAGE: Ken Wolter/Shutterstock
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