Faith leaders urge Wayne State to drop charges against pro-Palestinian student
The coalition says the university is punishing peaceful protesters and violating students’ First Amendment rights
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A coalition of religious leaders gathered at Wayne State University on Thursday morning to demand that school administrators drop misconduct charges against a student activist involved in the campus movement for Palestinian human rights.
The press conference, held at the intersection of Second and Warren avenues, comes days after the student organizer was charged with a non-academic code of conduct violation that could lead to suspension, expulsion, or loss of scholarships.
Details of the alleged incident, including the student’s identity, have not been publicly divulged.
Clergy and community advocates say the charges stem from the student’s role in organizing peaceful protests demanding the university divest from companies profiting from the war in Gaza.
“Many of us know this student personally and have participated with them in peaceful protests and made public comments at WSU Board of Governors meetings,” the coalition wrote in an open letter delivered Thursday to a member of Strauss’s staff. “We testify to their bravery, brilliance, integrity, honesty, humility and compassion. They are a consummate leader committed to creating a world that works for everyone. We see this charge as a blatant attempt to punish and intimidate students who are serving as a moral compass of this country.”
The protest comes amid heightened scrutiny of how Michigan universities are handling student dissent over Israel’s actions in Gaza, which are believed to have killed about 55,000 Palestinians. More than half of the dead are women and children.
Last week, The Guardian reported that the University of Michigan hired the private security firm City Shield to conduct undercover surveillance of students involved in pro-Palestinian demonstrators. In response to the article and the public outcry it generated, U-M announced it had terminated the contract.
Wayne State has a separate contract with City Shield, which had a car near the protest Thursday.
Speakers at the press conference condemned what they described as a crackdown on free speech and urged university leaders to uphold their stated values of inclusion, collaboration, and integrity.
“This misconduct charge slapped on this student is part of this racial, capitalist system’s ongoing repression of any stubborn truth that exposes the moral and spiritual combo platter of co-corporate profit and Christian nationalism,” Tommy Airey, a member of Christians for a Free Palestine, said, describing the pro-Palestinian student activists as “courageous, creative truth-tellers.”
Kateri M. Boucher, ministries coordinator at St. Peter's Episcopal Church Detroit, said free speech is an important religious principle.
“It’s not just a moral or political issue and concern, but a deeply religious and Biblical concern,” Boucher said. “Our tradition is rooted in prophetic voices who have spoken out about injustice, and if their voices had been censored, we would barely have any Bible left.”
Nashat Imran, of Doctors Against Genocide, said pro-Palestinian activists have been peaceful and are standing up for human rights.
“The students showed us who they are,” Imran said. “They showed us that they stand for freedom of speech. They stand against genocide. They stand up against this barbarity that Israel is conducting against innocent civilians.”
Imam Steve Mustapha Elturk, president of the Islamic Organization of North America, said the charge against the student “represents a troubling suppression of peaceful student activism and a betrayal of the university’s stated commitment to justice and open discourse.”
He added, “Rather than engaging in a meaningful way with students’ moral and legitimate demands to end university complicity in funding genocide, the administration has chosen intimidation, punishment, and silencing. This is unacceptable.”
For more than a year, Wayne State has come under fire its handling of peaceful, pro-Palestinian protests. On May 30, 2024, police in riot gear raided a peaceful protest encampment, arrested several demonstrators, and tackled students as they complied with orders to leave. At least one woman’s hijab was ripped off in the process.
A month earlier, officers forcibly removed students from a Board of Governors meeting, prompting more than 100 faculty and staff members to sign a letter condemning the “racist assault” on peaceful demonstrators.
In March, Wayne State prevented a group of peaceful pro-Palestinian activists, including students and professors, from gathering at a campus site.
“Standing up for peace and opposing genocide is not misconduct,” Elturk said. “It’s a demonstration of moral courage.”
Wayne State declined to comment.
