Current and past students are suing the University of Michigan, claiming that the institution singled out and unfairly punished pro-Palestinian students who participated in demonstrations on campus.
The school is accused of breaching the students’ constitutional rights to equal protection under the law, free speech, and due process in a federal lawsuit filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The president and vice president of student life, as well as the university’s Board of Regents, are named as defendants.
According to the lawsuit, the University of Michigan fired students from campus positions, blacklisted them from future employment, targeted students and student organizations for disciplinary actions, and sent trespass notices that prevented them from attending classes.
“No such measures are known to have been taken at any time during the previous half century by the University against students engaging in speech and other expressive activities on other important political and human rights issues,” the complaint stated.
An NBC News request for comment was not immediately answered by the University of Michigan.
Numerous pro-Palestinian student organizations have resumed their demonstrations since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught on Israel, demanding that their colleges divest from Israeli corporations, defense firms, or businesses that financially support Israel.
A sit-in at the President’s office lobby in November 2023 was one of the protest actions that were part of the University of Michigan lawsuit. Police broke up the protest; according to the lawsuit, more than 10 law enforcement agencies were called in, which resulted in 42 student arrests.
Despite being a nonviolent demonstration, the lawsuit claims that police action caused injuries to multiple students. One of the claimants, Zaynab Elkolaly, claimed that a University of Michigan police officer had shoved her to the ground and tore off her headscarf.
Months after the protest, in May, students who were there were informed that they were the subject of a complaint alleging that they had violated the Students’ Rights and Responsibilities.
The lawsuit claims that the University of Michigan cannot be its own party in the conflict resolution process, among other problems with the procedure that went against the school’s established standards.
The person who filed the complaint was unable to prove that the demonstration interfered with university operations or that the students did not leave when asked, and a student-led panel determined that none of the students were accountable for the infractions.
However, the suit claimed that the school’s vice president of student life personally overturned the student panel’s ruling.
According to the lawsuit, the accused pupils were given the burden of proof by the school official, which “retroactively established an entirely different standard after the hearing had concluded and the time for the introduction of evidence had passed.”
The lawsuit also claims that a person employed by the university to submit a complaint against students over a “die-in” protest filed a complaint against its branch of Students for Justice in Palestine.
According to the lawsuit, in order to prevent a genocide against Palestinians, the University of Michigan “only ever initiated a complaint against students or student organizations when they hold views in support of divestment.”
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