ANN ARBOR, MI – Last week, the Graduate Employees’ Organization – AFT Local 3550 (GEO) at the University of Michigan, representing over 2,000 Graduate Student Instructors and Staff Assistants, learned that more than ten undergraduate and graduate students at U-M have been charged by the University’s Office of Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR) for their participation in pro-Palestine protests dating back 10 to 14 months. Four of those threatened with discipline are former GEO officers and bargaining team members who have been repeatedly targeted by U-M police and the state. These disciplinary charges clearly demonstrate retaliation against political activism and the further erosion of students’ and workers’ rights on campus.
OSCR Charges: A Last-Ditch Effort
These charges come shortly after Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s highly publicized criminal charges against student activists collapsed under scrutiny of her clear anti-Palestinian bias. Facing this humiliating defeat, and after revelations that the U-M Regents secretly deployed undercover private security agents to spy on students, the University has resorted to weaponizing its internal disciplinary processes to punish student activists. Shamefully, among those now facing OSCR charges are members of the “Encampment 11,” whose criminal charges were recently dismissed. Despite these activists’ charges being dropped, the University continues to pursue punishment and repression through a rigged internal process.
Undermining Due Process and Worker Rights
GEO strongly condemns the Regents’ manipulation of OSCR from its intended restorative justice model into a tool of repression. In July 2024, the Regents unilaterally rewrote the Student Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (SSRR), without consulting any relevant campus community members. These changes effectively eliminated due process protections for students:
- The administration can now serve as both complainant and final judge.
- Deadlines for defense preparations have been severely shortened, deliberately limiting students’ ability to defend themselves.
- The Vice President of Student Life, currently Martino Harmon, can override independent panel decisions, guaranteeing predetermined outcomes.
Broader Context of Repression
This latest attack on students fits a troubling pattern of repression led by the U-M Board of Regents. Over the last 18 months, U-M has:
- Deployed police violence repeatedly against protesters, including the use of chemical weapons.
- Arbitrarily banned more than 65 students, staff, and community members from parts or all of campus.
- Fired over a dozen student workers and staff members without due process, enforcing employment blacklists.
- Hired undercover security contractors to harass student activists, leading to multiple arrests and intimidation.
- Collaborated directly with Michigan AG Dana Nessel to pursue unfounded criminal prosecutions of protesters advocating for Palestinian liberation.
These measures are clearly intended to silence growing campus opposition to U-M’s complicity in Israeli apartheid and the ongoing genocide in Gaza—a genocide which has resulted in the destruction of all universities within the territory. Students, grad workers, and faculty have long called for divestment from companies facilitating Israeli violence, yet U-M’s administration continues to defend their investments, prioritizing financial interests over human rights. At the same time, they have chosen to spend precious public resources on disciplining students.
Implications for Student and Labor Activism
GEO recognizes that these OSCR charges represent a grave threat to freedom of assembly and our collective right to protest. If the University can punish any student at any time for activism undertaken months or even years prior, we effectively lose our right to assemble and organize freely. As we go into contract negotiations this year, we will encounter an authoritarian administration that has no qualms breaking its own rules and deploying violence against the campus community, mirroring the worst tendencies of the Trump administration. The Regents’ blatant disregard for due process and willingness to repeatedly penalize student protesters underscores their determination to crush dissent, whether it relates to their anti-Palestinian policies or their underpayment of graduate workers. GEO is committed to responding to these measures through organizing, activism at the bargaining table and beyond, and continued advocacy for our members’ and their students’ right to free expression.
GEO’s Demands
GEO demands that the University administration and the U-M Board of Regents immediately:
- Drop all OSCR disciplinary charges against students involved in pro-Palestine activism.
- Restore due process protections in student disciplinary proceedings.
- End collaboration with undercover security contractors and external political operatives targeting student activists.
- Publicly account for U-M’s investments in companies implicated in Israeli apartheid and genocide, and divest immediately.
Call to Action
GEO urges the U-M community, other campus unions, and broader public to condemn this ongoing assault on free speech and student activism. It is essential that faculty, staff, alumni, and community allies stand with student protesters in opposing these repressive measures.
We further call on the U-M Regents, President’s Office, and OSCR to cease their campaign of harassment and retaliation, restore due process immediately, and publicly reaffirm the university’s commitment to genuine academic freedom, free speech, and human rights.
We refuse to be intimidated. GEO stands resolutely in solidarity with all student protesters fighting for Palestinian liberation, and we commit to organizing against all forms of administrative repression.
Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) – AFT Local 3550
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