University of Michigan Regents Assigned Around-the-Clock Security Amid Escalating Anti-Israel Vandalism, Harassment

The vandalism, harassment, and threats directed at the University of Michigan’s regents and executive officers by anti-Israel protesters have gotten so out of hand that the school is providing its top leaders around-the-clock security protection. The security details were assigned “out of an abundance of caution,” one regent, Sarah Hubbard, tells the Sun. Ms. Hubbard is one of three members of the university’s eight-person Board of Regents who has confirmed receiving 24-hour security at the recommendation of local law enforcement and legal counsel. Although she is not Jewish herself, Ms. Hubbard has been outspoken in condemning antisemitism on the university’s campus. The other two regents who confirmed receiving around-the-clock protection — Jordan Acker and Mark Bernstein — are openly Jewish. “I hope people take this as an indication that we really need to be more civil in our discourse and that we need greater diversity of thought,” Ms. Hubbard tells the Sun. The security measure comes as the Ann Arbor school has struggled to grapple with the increasingly violent attacks against its leaders over their refusal to sever the school’s ties to Israel. The three regents have borne the brunt of the anti-Israel attacks that have persisted over the past year and a half.“Since November 17, 2023, our regents and executive officers have been subjected to extensive and targeted criminal acts, including vandalism of private residences and businesses,” a university spokeswoman, Colleen Mastony, stated this week. “These incidents, detailed in a press release, underscore the unacceptable level of threats and harassment directed at our institution’s leaders and their families.”Ms. Mastony added that the school has taken “prudent steps to support our regents and executive officers,” who, she notes, are classified by the Michigan constitution as constitutional officers and thus must be allowed to carry out their duties free from intimidation and threats. The school has not provided any additional details about the cost or duration of the heightened security. While Ms. Hubbard appreciates the protection, she hopes that the need for additional security will pass. “ I don’t want to have to experience this indefinitely,” she tells the Sun. The University of Michigan, like many universities across the country, was rocked by an explosion of anti-Israel protests in the wake of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack and the ensuing war in Gaza. Over the past year and a half, the student activists at UMichigan have rallied behind their demand for the school to divest from Israel. The school’s Board of Regents, who are chosen via statewide elections and serve eight-year terms, formally shot down the request in March 2024, pointing to the school’s longstanding policy of shielding its endowment from political pressures. The investment approach was reviewed and affirmed by the regents in 2015, 2017, and again in March 2024. The school maintains no direct investments in Israel and holds less than $15 million in assets that might have “indirect” connections to Israeli companies — a sum that makes up less than 0.1 percent of the total endowment. The attacks began in May 2024 — two months after the regents announced their divestment decision — with anti-Israel vandals targeting Ms. Hubbard’s home. They erected tents on her front lawn and staged on her doorstep “scenes of genocide in Palestine,” which included bloodied dolls and stuffed animals, a broken baby crib, and a fake body bag. A month later, Mr. Acker’s workplace was vandalized, with activists spray-painting the words “Free Palestine” and “Divest Now” outside of his Southfield law office. In October — on the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 massacre — the homes of Michigan’s president, Santa Ono, along with the school’s chief investment officer, Erik Lundberg, were vandalized with anti-Israel slogans. The messages sprawled across Mr. Ono’s home were particularly menacing, with vandals spray-painting red upside-down triangles — a Hamas propaganda symbol — as well as the word “intifada,” a reference to two periods of indiscriminate violence by Palestinians against Israeli civilians. Two months later, Mr. Acker was targeted yet again. Vandals spray-painted his wife’s car with a red inverted triangle and the messages “Divest” and “Free Palestine.” They also threw a mason jar filled with urine through his window, waking up his wife and three daughters, who were in the house. The fifth incident occurred in March, when a UMichigan provost, Laurie McCauley, had the front of her home defaced with slogans like “Free Palestine,” “Divest,” and “No Honor in Genocide.” The assailants also threw an object into a bedroom window. Ms. Hubbard and her fellow regents have refused to bow to the activists’ demands despite the attacks. “While I have this level of security in my life now, I’m not intimidated and I’m not gonna stop protecting Jewish students,” Ms. Hubbard tells the Sun. “We’re leaders at the University of Michigan and we’re not gonna let this change how we value free speech and how we value the need for all students to feel safe on our campus,” she added.

University of Michigan Regents Assigned Around-the-Clock Security Amid Escalating Anti-Israel Vandalism, Harassment

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