The University of Michigan is ramping up its crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests by bringing disciplinary charges against 11 current and former students and creating a new role that works with the police department to handle punishment, activists tell Metro Times.
The charges stem from campus protests from 10 to 14 months ago.
The University of Michigan Board of Regents, which has repeatedly targeted students who have spoken out about Israel’s war in Gaza, brought the charges under a newly revised student code of conduct, according to TAHRIR Coalition, a grassroots pro-Palestinian group. The charges, which include potential suspensions, formal reprimands, and a lifetime ban for alums, come nearly three months after Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel dropped all charges against seven pro-Palestinian protesters accused of resisting police during the May 2024 clearing of an encampment at the University of Michigan.
Four of those facing discipline by the university were initially criminally charged by Nessel in September 2024 for their role in the encampment.
A judge criticized Nessel’s prosecution, and supporters of those charged say the Democratic attorney general, who is Jewish, is cracking down on political dissent as a genocide takes place.
The disciplinary action targets leaders of several student groups, including Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), the Muslim Student Association, Arab Students Association, Jewish Voice for Peace, and the Graduate Employees Organization, AFT Local 3550.
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“The challenges of repression only strengthen our unity and resolve to see a Free Palestine,” U-M alum Eaman Ali said in a statement, pointing to the encampment crackdown and the handling of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University protest leader targeted for deportation by President Donald Trump. “We recognize repression on a national scale as nothing but a means to distract us from the unspeakable horrors and crimes committed against the people of Gaza, and we will not be silenced.”
Student organizers and civil rights groups say the university’s new Student Conduct Investigator position in the Office of Student Conflict Resolution is designed to bypass due process and punish dissent. The role was created after the regents unilaterally revised the student code of conduct in July 2024, enabling them to file complaints, control how they’re adjudicated, and determine outcomes, activists say.
Since then, critics say the university’s police department has operated its “own private court system,” where pro-Palestinian students are routinely found responsible for policy violations, even in cases where student panels or appeals boards had initially cleared them.
The university relies heavily on surveillance and evidence collected by university police, who have used facial recognition software and the Michigan State Police biometrics database to identify student protesters, according to organizers. That information is handed off to student investigator Donovan Golich, who was hired earlier this year after he made headlines at the University of Virginia the year before for his treatment of students accused of wrongdoing. Golich, who worked at the UVA’s Division of Student Affairs, was involved in cases in which the university attempted to withhold diplomas from pro-Palestinian protesters. (None of the cases resulted in any disciplinary record.)
In an edited version of a secretly recorded meeting, Golich also grilled, threatened, and intimidated a member of a fraternity accused of hazing.
After less than a year at the University of Virginia and increasing criticism, Golich left the school and was hired soon after by U-M to discipline students.
Neither Golich nor the University returned emails for comment, despite what’s at stake for student protesters.
In his new position, Golich serves as investigator who can file complaints on behalf of the university. Pro-Palestinian activists say they have questions about fairness and conflicts of interest.
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Organizers say the new charges are a retaliatory move after the university suffered two major public embarrassments this year, including the collapse of Nessel’s criminal cases. The university also came under fire after it hired private security firm CityShield to spy on pro-Palestinian activists. After a Guardian investigation revealed the surveillance and the bizarre actions of the security staff, the University of Michigan terminated the contract.
Six of the eight regents donated to Nessel’s campaign, and one served as her 2018 campaign co-chair. The board pushed for criminal charges after local prosecutors declined to act.
Pro-Palestinian activists have filed two federal lawsuits against the university, alleging the school unconstitutionally banned protesters from campus and unlawfully silenced them as part of a broad crackdown on protected speech.
Since Israel began bombing and killing innocent Palestinians in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas-led militants, protesters have called on the university for financial divestment from Israel. Instead, then-University of Michigan President Santa Ono bragged that he doubled down and invested more in Israel-connected institutions.
Activists say these repeated actions by the University of Michigan show the school is more interested in silencing dissent than engaging with students outraged by the murder of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians.
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Update: This article was edited to make clear that the Student Conduct Investigator is a new role in the University of Michigan’s Office of Student Conflict Resolution.
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This article appears in Jul 23 – Aug 5, 2025.