Pro-Palestinian student organizers at Michigan State University met with the school’s top administrators Monday to discuss the university’s investment portfolio and its ties to Israel.
The meeting with MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz came several months after the student-led Gaza solidarity encampment disbanded in April.
Guskiewicz launched a listening and learning tour last year shortly after his arrival at MSU in an effort to meet and get to know students, faculty and staff.
Student representatives with the MSU Hurriya coalition, which is composed of more than twenty student organizations including Students United for Palestinian Rights, Jewish Voices for Peace MSU and the Muslim Student Association, said Monday’s meeting was part of that outreach.
“During our communications leading up to this meeting, we outlined our desire to talk about divestment and the Gaza solidarity,” said MSU senior and organizer Ateeyah Abdul-Wasi.
Guskiewicz’s response was in line an MSU Board of Trustees position outlined in April, according to those at the meeting. Trustees previously said they would continue to review the school’s foreign investment portfolio but declined to restrict its financial holdings in Israel.
Student representatives with the Hurriya coalition said the university’s administration was unwilling to discuss divestment or to acknowledge the link they say exists between investments and Israel’s war efforts in Gaza.
“MSU said the bonds are funding the U.S. government, but it was bought specifically so that the university would fund the U.S. government in its aid to the state of Israel,” said Jesse-Estrada White, a third-year student organizer with the Hurriya coalition.
In a statement, MSU spokesperson Emily Guerrant said one of the goals of the meeting was to discuss “how the university can best support students during the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.”
“President Guskiewicz responded and acknowledged their intention and agreed to hear their positions and thoughts on the issue, but also reiterated that the university’s position has not changed,” said Guerrant.
The student organizers argue that MSU has a moral responsibility to stand up against what’s happening in Gaza.
“We refuse to be bystanders, as Michigan State University continues to operate as a private investment vessel, rather than as a public university,” said Abdul-Wasi.
Students say MSU policy underscores its responsibility to take a stance against Israel in the same way the school divested from apartheid in the 1970s, when the Board of Trustees withdrew its holdings in companies operating in South Africa including General Motors, Dow Chemical and Kellogg.
“The university has a policy that outlines that within their fiduciary responsibility, the board has to take a social conscious when investing,” said Estrada White.
The student coalition plans to renew their calls for divestment at MSU’s Board of Trustees meeting on Friday.
