Student protestors kicked out of Wayne State Board of Governors meeting after disruption
Detroit Documenter Perry Sylvester covered the contentious meeting for the Detroit Documenters project.
Pro-Palestinian protesters seeking university divestment from Israel disrupted a Wayne State University Board of Governors meeting on Friday, April 26, 2024, resulting in their removal from the meeting.
Pro-Palestinian protestors interrupted the Wayne State University Board of Governors meeting on Friday after the public comments were over, calling for the board to put divestment of funds to Israel on the agenda.
Detroit Documenter Perry Sylvester covered the contentious meeting for the Detroit Documenters project.
He said many people were upset and frustrated with “universities not having anything on the agenda, not taking any kind of a stance.”
In a news release sent Wednesday morning, the university’s Interim Senior Vice President for Business Affairs Bethany Gielczyk stated that the protesters had to be removed from the meeting by university police after the protesters declared they were “taking over the meeting,” preventing it from continuing.
Sylvester says unlike previous meetings, the protesters — which included students, faculty and others from outside the WSU community — were not asked to leave verbally, and things escalated quickly with protesters being physically pushed out of the room by others.
“One person appeared to be getting detained or arrested,” Sylvester said. “There was an activist who was following the police as the person was being escorted out asking ‘why is he being arrested?'”
Gielczyk said no WSU students were arrested or punished because of this event. One protester, who is not affiliated with WSU, was briefly detained, cited and released, she said.
On Nov. 2, 2023, the Student Senate passed resolution 2324-03 to request the addition of divestment to the board’s agenda. The following day, Dean of Students David J. Strauss sent an email stating the university’s stance to the student body.
The letter says while students have the right to protest and exercise their freedom of speech, it fell short of supporting the resolution.
“However, while we appreciate our students’ activism, and support their right to express this view, it is important to note that this resolution does not represent the viewpoint of the university, nor does it represent all students at Wayne State, some of whom will find the language hurtful,” he wrote in the email.
A month later, the Board of Governors put out a letter stating they would not vote on the matter, and the measure has not been added to the agenda.
WDET is a member of the Detroit Documenters project.
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