Student government is no place for political violence

We, as current and former members of Central Student Government, are appalled by the behavior that our peers and members of our campus community exhibited toward student government members at the CSG Student Assembly meeting this past Tuesday.

On Oct. 8, 2024, CSG voted to pass a student petition to resume funding to student organizations after multiple proposed budgets were vetoed by CSG President Alifa Chowdhury. The petition allocated $385,000 to student organizations and immediately made more than $80,000 available to programs like the Maize and Blue Cupboard, sexual assault and misconduct prevention, disability empowerment, New York Times and Wall Street Journal student subscriptions, MCAT and LSAT prep services, free graduation caps and gowns, student leadership scholarships and AirBus travel services, among many other services that CSG typically provides to the entire student body. A second petition, which would allocate $440,000 to rebuilding Birzeit University in Gaza, was also considered but did not pass the Assembly.

After the meeting concluded, community members verbally assaulted CSG members as they walked to their vehicles, claiming that representatives would “be seeing them after class” and that they “knew where (representatives) lived.” They also made thinly veiled death threats toward the Assembly members, claiming that their “day of atonement (was) near.” One representative was spat on.

On Oct. 9, 2024, CSG members associated with the TAHRIR Coalition and SHUT IT DOWN used the CSG Instagram page to post a video, labeling CSG representatives as extremists. It also insinuated that the voting process was undemocratic and that CSG representatives acted in a politically corrupt or thoughtless way when voting to pass the budget. What was left out of the post was the verbal and physical harassment and intimidation CSG members faced before, during and after the vote to pass the budget. 

We wholeheartedly condemn the harassment of CSG members and are alarmed by the hateful rhetoric and doxxing that many of our members have experienced as a result of the budget dispute. This rhetoric has fueled the violence we have already seen erupt across our campus and our country. At the University of Michigan, multiple students have been assaulted for their political or religious beliefs. Student videos, testimonies and this week’s recorded CSG Assembly meeting are proof of this volatile development.  

While Tuesday night was a particularly challenging and troubling experience for CSG’s student leaders, it is just one example of a larger problem with inflammatory rhetoric in our government. We have always and will always work to represent the student body’s interests, but we know that the current executive administration is sacrificing Assembly members’ safety without a second thought.

We are disgusted by Chowdhury and Vice President Elias Atkinson’s tacit endorsement of these actions, and we unequivocally condemn their complicity in the violence, intimidation and assault against our peers. As the student body’s executive officials, they were elected to serve every student, across partisan divides, regardless of personal or political disagreements. They were elected to respect and uphold the Constitution to which they are bound. We ask the CSG administration to protect student leaders, who are a part of the campus community and their constituency, and foster an environment that allows for the productive and meaningful exchange of ideas instead of promoting violence.

For these reasons, we call for the immediate resignation of President Chowdhury and Vice President Atkinson. Their inability to protect student representatives, their endorsement of violence and harassment and their misuse of official platforms to spread misinformation are direct violations of their duties and unbecoming of  the office of the presidency. Chowdhury and Atkinson must take full accountability for the harm they have caused CSG representatives.

Despite Tuesday’s events, we remain committed to serving the student body. We believe that the Central Student Government has an imperative to discuss the issues of the day and respond to student concerns. We hold that it is equally important that we treat each other with respect and engage with our differences thoughtfully and empathetically rather than through means that seek to divide. We implore the student body to vote for candidates who will do the same in the upcoming elections.

Margaret Peterman is an LSA sophomore and the Resolutions Vice Chair of the Central Student Government. She can be reached at margcp@umich.edu. The full list of authors can be found here.

Related articles