GEO Statement in Solidarity with Michigan Medicine Staff Facing Wrongful Termination
We are appalled to learn that the University of Michigan continues its repressive campaign against its students, faculty, and staff who have spoken out and protested against the ongoing genocide in Palestine. With hardly any notice, the University has chosen to call for a Disciplinary Review Conference (DRC) of a Michigan Medicine employee and member of Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine for unspecified “actions” at a pro-Palestine protest in November 2023. This decision can only be seen as a serious and worrying retaliation on the University’s part against an employee who has worked for over twenty years for Michigan Hospitals. A DRC is usually reserved only for terminations following numerous other disciplinary steps such as warnings, probations, or even suspension. The choice to move immediately to a DRC, which is normally a formality prior to termination, is a sad reminder of the University’s ongoing pattern of harassment against those who speak out against the ongoing genocide in Palestine. It is appalling that the University should be so quick to lash out against employees who exercise their right to protest by removing their economic livelihood.
Against the University’s misrepresentations, we must establish the basic facts of this matter. Last November, University community members made a simple demand to University administrators: to meet with them to discuss divestment from any investments potentially linked to the genocide in Palestine. In stark contrast to its immediate choice to divest from Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, the University of Michigan responded to community member’s demands not with dialogue, but with police force and reflexive recourse to punitive legal action. In November, community members at Ruthven were met with over a dozen different police forces, including DPSS. This excessive show of force resulted in a chaotic escalation that endangered all present. Rather than allow any sort of due process to take place, the University has chosen to directly attack an employee convicted of no crime and who, as a member of Michigan Medicine, fulfilled their moral obligation to protest against a genocide that has resulted in the destruction of every hospital in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice has found the State of Israel guilty of apartheid and ordered the end of its illegal occupation of Palestine. This continued repression underscores not only the University’s continual failure to honor the dignity and rights of its employees, but that it seeks to recommit itself to the defense of apartheid, just as it did during the Apartheid in South Africa. The termination of this employee’s contract would set a troubling standard for all who work at the University of Michigan. We reiterate the right of all campus workers to exercise their constitutional rights of free speech and protest, and we believe that all campus workers and community members must stand against this act of repression. We demand that the University of Michigan immediately cancel the DRC scheduled for Monday, August 5th. Furthermore, we call on the University to follow international law and divest from the genocide in Palestine and drop the charges against protesters whose actions serve only to demand that their state representatives follow this legal duty.
