ANN ARBOR — The University of Michigan’s Central Student Government (CSG) narrowly passed a major divestment resolution Tuesday evening, calling on the Board of Regents to investigate and end financial investments linked to Israeli human rights abuses, including those tied to the ongoing military campaign in Gaza.

The measure, known as The Divest for Humanity Act (AR 15-051), urges U of M leadership to pursue divestment using the same framework employed in the university’s historic withdrawal from apartheid-era South Africa in 1978.

The vote follows nearly five months of intense protests on campus over the Israeli war on Gaza, where more than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed according to humanitarian monitors, a crisis classified by the United Nation and leading global institutions as genocide.

Emotional testimony and deep divides

The Michigan Union’s Wolverine Room overflowed with students and community members, 37 speakers delivered public comments, some opposing the resolution and arguing it threatens Jewish safety on campus.

Dan Viderman, president of Students Supporting Israel, called the proposal anti-Semitic.

“This resolution marks another illegal, vicious attempt at erasing the civil rights of Jewish students,” he said.

Business junior James Bodian of the TAMID Group said divestment could harm internship opportunities tied to Israeli companies.

But pro-divestment students pushed back, saying the morality of the issue demanded action.

LSA junior Martino Kas-Mikha, president of LSA Student Government, reaffirmed support.

“Our student government cannot look away from a genocide,” he said. “This is the will of our assembly.”

Arab American leaders: Students are on “the right side of history”

Local Arab American organizers applauded the vote, describing it as a historic affirmation of human rights.

Yasmeen Abou-Ali, a Palestinian American senior and organizer with Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), said student leadership succeeded where elected leaders fail.

“While Washington continues to fund war crimes, students refuse to be complicit. This vote is a moral victory for every Palestinian family still buried under rubble.”

“Our students showed courage under pressure and misinformation,” Community advocate Ali Makki, representing a coalition of Arab American youth groups in metro Detroit, said. “This campus will one day be proud of those who stood against genocide — not those who stayed silent.”

Closed-door debate and narrow passage

After almost two hours behind closed doors, CSG members resumed open session and debated for more than an hour.

Sponsor Keshava Demerath-Shanti emphasized the obligation to act.

“If genocide does not meet that level, what does?”

Supporter Sean Shelbrock framed divestment as essential to progress.

“If ‘dialogue, not divestment,’ were our response to everything… we’d still be living with South African apartheid.”

Opponents warned of division and campus climate impact, but the resolution ultimately passed 16–13 by secret ballot, one of the closest votes in recent years.

Additional governance reform heads to voters

The CSG also approved CA 15-005, allowing the Assembly to fill vacant seats if the executive fails to do so.
That amendment will now go before the entire student body for ratification.

The remaining agenda was tabled due to the extended divestment debate.