Group of students call for University of Michigan to divest from Israel at commencement, but speeches continue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A group of about 50 graduating students stood and called for the University of Michigan to divest from companies with ties to Israel at the spring commencement ceremony Saturday, but the speeches continued.“Disclose! Divest! We will not stop, we will not rest!” students chanted early in the ceremony at the Big House in Ann Arbor.

The students then proceeded peacefully through the center aisle bearing a banner that stated, “No universities left in Gaza."

The statement referred to Palestinian news reports that Israeli attacks on Gaza have destroyed every higher education campus since Israel first began its assault after an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

Hamas also abducted about 250 people. Israel says it still holds around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

The protesters assembled while U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro was addressing ROTC graduates.“It is indeed these young men and women who will protect the freedoms that we so cherish as Americans in our Constitution of the United States, which includes the right to protest peacefully,” Del Toro said of the ROTC graduates as the protesters remained gathered at the center aisle.

Administrators and Michigan State Police officers stood around the protesters, moving quickly toward those that stood up from their seats bearing Palestinian flags.

The protest drew a mix of boos and cheers. The students then moved to the back of the stadium and remained there through the ceremony.

Hundreds of graduates wore keffiyehs or keffiyeh stoles with their graduation regalia. Some graduates said they chose to wear the traditional scarf associated with Palestinian heritage as an act of personal protest.

“This seems like the smallest act of resistance that we can participate in right now,” said Andrea Márquez, a 24-year-old graduating with a master's degree in educational studies.

Celebrating her graduation is very meaningful for Márquez’s family, as she is a first generation, low-income student, she said.

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