The University of Michigan Board of Regents met in the Alexander G. Ruthven Building Thursday evening to discuss an institute to address antisemitism and progress on the U-M Center for Innovation in Detroit, as well as hear public comments. Outside the building, hundreds of U-M students and community members protested the University’s investments in companies that support Israel.
To enter the Ruthven Building, visitors were required to pass through two weapon detector systems and undergo a thorough bag search by building security. According to University spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald, U-M administration heightened security measures at Thursday’s meeting in response to ongoing student protests — in particular, a Nov. 17 peaceful demonstration at the Ruthven Building that ended in 40 students being arrested, and many others being subjected to police violence.
University President Santa Ono began the meeting with an update on the U-M Center for Innovation in Detroit, announcing the appointment of Scott Shireman, global head of Coursera for Campus, as its inaugural director and saying the University will break ground next week.
“Next week, we will break ground on this new $250 million facility, which — when completed — will be a world-class research, education and entrepreneurship center that will empower the next generation of Detroiters to dream bigger dreams and to make their dreams come to reality,” Ono said. “We also recently hired Scott Shireman as the UMCI inaugural director. He’s an experienced higher education administrator with deep expertise in global and online education.”
Amid the campus response to the ongoing violence in Gaza and Israel, Ono announced the creation of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute to address antisemitism and support religious diversity and inclusion at the University.
“We are announcing a new institute to combat antisemitism and to advance religious inclusion,” Ono said. “Our new University of Michigan Raoul Wallenberg Institute will be housed in the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science and the Arts and be further developed with investments across the University.”
Ono also provided an update on the creation of an unarmed non-police emergency response team for the U-M community, which he initially announced his support for at the board’s September meeting.
“I promised to provide an update before the end of the semester on the proposed unarmed non-police emergency response initiative,” Ono said. “We have benchmarked comparable programs at other higher educational institutions, gathered an inventory of existing University of Michigan services to support a collective crisis response and identified a workgroup to address (issues in) the best way forward. I am pleased with the actions to date and look forward to further progress in the new year.”
The board unanimously approved a budget increase for the construction of a new residence hall on Elbel Field to pay for a crushed storm sewer pipe under the field, raising the total cost of the project from $15.4 million to $18.2 million. They also voted to approve a lease on a newly-renovated residence hall within the Marygrove College campus in Detroit, which will house first-year students in the Marsal School of Education’s Learning, Equity and Problem Solving for the Public Good program.
The board also approved the formation of a strategic alliance between Holland Hospital and Michigan Medicine. Marschall Runge, executive vice president for medical affairs, said the goal of this partnership is to improve overall health care in west Michigan.
“This alliance will benefit health care patients across west Michigan by allowing both organizations to identify and pursue opportunities that support high-quality clinical services locally,” Runge said. “We’ve enjoyed a collaborative and positive relationship with Holland Hospitals over the years and we’re enthusiastic for the opportunity to deepen our alliance to continue serving the evolving needs of our patients in the communities that we serve.”
Several students spoke during the public comments section to demand the University divest from companies that support Israel. Before speaking, Rawan Antar, co-president of the Arab Student Association and member of the TAHRIR coalition, requested the board allow U-M alum Zackariah Farah, Ann Arbor Renters Commission chair, to speak. Farah was the first scheduled speaker but arrived after his speaking time due to delayed entry. The board denied this request. In a note on the back of his prepared remarks obtained by The Michigan Daily, Farah wrote he believes the University is working to silence student voices on this issue.
“I was prevented from speaking because their security refused to let us in,” Farah wrote. “They want to silence democracy.”
In her comments to the board, Antar said she believes the University is failing to protect its Arab and Muslim students amid campus divisions around the Israel-Hamas war.
“You have the duty to represent the people of the state who elected you, a state with the largest concentration of Arab Americans and Muslims,” Antar said. “I have spent the last two months as a student leader being afraid and sad to be part of a university that refuses to acknowledge and protect us. But I’m here to tell you that it’s not too late to do the right thing. As members of the same collective community, I’m here to ask you to respect our humanity — just as we respect yours — and divest.”
Daily News Editor Sneha Dhandapani can be reached at sdhanda@umich.edu. Daily Staff Reporter Miles Anderson can be reached at milesand@umich.edu.