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University Of Michigan

University Of Michigan Moves To Eliminate Due Process For Students

Over the last two years, the University of Michigan (UM) administration has been fiercely repressing student and worker voices on campus with a combination of police and administrative attacks. The University has conducted large-scale arrests of student protestors demanding divestment from financial ties to the Israeli military, sent campus police to the homes of graduate student union organizers as an intimidation tactic, and violently attacked the community encampment calling for an end to the university’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza. In less physically violent but no less aggressive moves, UM  has attempted to discipline the activist Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) union for their 2023 strike and their substantial fights for a living wage, the dismantling of the large campus police apparatus, and divestment from Israel  by changing hiring practices for graduate student workers.

University Of Michigan Protestors Keep Focus On Genocide In Gaza

It’s hard to believe that the encampment at the University of Michigan where students are protesting the university’s financial complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza is only two weeks old. Since establishing the encampment, the broad coalition, led mostly by graduate student organizers but supported by undergrads, faculty and staff, and community members, has grown tremendously. Over the last two weeks they have increased their actions, demanding  the University divest from companies that profit from Israel’s occupation of Palestine and war on Gaza. Over the last two weeks, camp activity has prioritized education and building community. Well over 100 permanent residents of the encampment have staged protests, teach-ins, and public engagement campaigns.

University Of Michigan Seeks Court Injunction To Stop Grad Student Strike

Graduate student-workers at the University of Michigan are on strike for the second time in three years, officially hitting the picket line this week. Speaking to The Michigan Daily, Amir Fleischmann, chair of the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) Contracts Committee, said, “Grad workers are very frustrated. They’re struggling to pay rent. They’re struggling to afford childcare. They lack access to gender-affirming care. And I think we’re saying enough is enough. The University needs to give us a fair contract now.” On top of that, the University of Michigan administration is once again seeking to weaponize the courts to end the strike, filing an Unfair Labor Practice Charge against the union, claiming that the strike violates the university’s existing contract with the union.