Michigan State students force university administrators to comply with divestment demand – People’s World

FLINT, Mich. – Michigan State University students have won a victory in their fight for divestment, but the war continues. Bowing to pressure, Michigan State University President Kevin M. Guskiewicz and the Board of Trustees have agreed to meet with the Hurriya Coalition, a leading force behind the ceasefire movement on campus, to discuss divestment from all financial relationships with the State of Israel.

On Friday, June 28, the Board of Trustees, a statewide elected group that is supposed to represent the university, held its summer meeting in Flint. There, the Hurriya Coalition, made up of more than 20 student organizations, including the Young Communist League, disrupted the meeting for more than 30 minutes to demand that the university disclose and divest from funding Israel’s war on Gaza.

The official agenda included a series of controversial votes to increase tuition and limit public comment at future board meetings. Budget and Finance Committee Chairwoman Trustee Sandy Pierce also presented a report on MSU’s investment portfolio. In her report, she said, “The board is pleased with the portfolio and it is consistent with our policies.”

Pierce said the board stood by its April statement opposing divestment and had no plans to revisit the issue in the future because it wanted to keep the portfolio free of “political interference.” It was during his report that members and supporters of the Hurriya coalition began chanting slogans while holding placards and banners.

The slogans included excerpts from the board’s policy that they must manage the portfolio with a “social conscience” and “MSU, your hands are red, forty thousand people are dead.”

The disturbances forced board members and President Guskiewicz to break up the meeting. They left the room in hopes of escaping the protesters, but the students followed them into the hallway outside the new meeting room, where they could apparently still hear them. This forced Guskiewicz and trustees Dan Kelly and Pierce to go outside and negotiate with the students.

To end the disruption, Pierce agreed to meet with students before the end of July, along with Guskiewicz and the Michigan State University chief financial officer. They also agreed to allow all public commentators to make statements.

After that concession, the meeting continued, and members heard testimony from faculty, staff, and students who supported divestment. The board also heard public comments from survivors of the Gaza genocide, which were translated by a Hurriya Coalition leader. Those testimonies convinced at least one other trustee, Brianna Scott, to attend the upcoming meeting with student leaders.

“We consider all the concessions made by the university administration as progress in our campaign for divestment,” said a Hurriya organizer, “but we are not fighting for meetings; we are fighting for divestment, and we will not rest until we get it.”

MSU currently invests more than $500 million in companies, stocks and funds linked to Israel and directly in the Netanyahu government itself through its holdings of Israeli bonds. Its portfolio also invests more than $3 million in weapons manufacturers, including Boeing, Northrup Grumman and Lockheed Martin.

Students, faculty and community members have been campaigning for divestment from Israel since October 2023 and have vowed not to stop until full divestment is achieved.

“This is an important step in the fight for divestment, but it is not the end,” the coalition said in a statement after the board meeting. Hurriya said the victory was the result of a grassroots movement and immense pressure from students. “Now it is time to step up that pressure and keep the momentum going into the fall. We call on the entire campus community to join us.”

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