The University of Michigan's student government took steps this week to restore some spring and summer funding for campus organizations, which had been withheld due to demands for the school to divest from investments tied to Israel.

On Tuesday, the Central Student Government gave preliminary approval to a fall budget that would allocate $400,000 to the Student Organization Funding Committee (SOFC), which is responsible for distributing funds to student organizations at the university.

"Part of this budget will make up for the lack of funding in the spring/summer semesters," representative Nate Cohen said during the meeting. "We had a lot of requests we couldn't fulfill so this is to reimburse students requests we couldn't fulfill."

The remainder of the roughly $560,000 budget request would go toward the general reserve, a public elections fund, payroll and the university's Airbus account, which provides affordable travel options to and from the Detroit airport during holidays and college breaks.

The budget proposal passed with a 25-15 vote and now returns to the finance committee for further consideration.

This development follows the student government elections last spring, where pro-Palestinian students, running under the "Shut It Down" platform, won 24 out of 45 seats. They had campaigned on the promise to stop all funding for student organizations until the university divests from its investments in Israel and sufficiently fund student groups.

The newly elected CSG president, Alifa Chowdhury, vetoed the summer budget, effectively cutting off funding to student groups. It remains uncertain whether she will take similar action with the fall budget or future funding requests.

"The Shut It Down platform ... is a protest against the [UM's] $18 billion endowment and against the investments for the companies linked to the genocide in Gaza," she said Tuesday, adding that the university is relying too much on the student government to bridge the gap in funding for student groups. "When we look at investments in Big 10 schools, you can see how important CSG funding is because of how low the money dedicated to sports is by the university itself. It doesn't make sense because we are the one with the biggest endowment. ... Not funding student orgs asks the university to stand up."

Student Organization Committee Vice Director Hayden Jackson expressed his relief that the funding request was being addressed, noting that the university administration had agreed to assist with funding student groups until the CSG adopts a budget.

"I'm grateful they responded to the request of my fellow members of the leadership and me," Hayden wrote in a Tuesday letter to CSG. "It's not an ideal situation — CSG should have long ago passed a budget and began funding — but it's necessary to get organizations the support they need (including paying for summer activities that had to be funded somehow)."

During the meeting, students discussed the impact of the funding freeze on their organizations, while also criticizing the university for not providing adequate financial support. UM's student government is funded by a student fee of $11.19 per semester.

"Quite frankly, the university does not fund student organizations as it should. A lot of orgs here rely on SOFC funding," said Ryan Grover, president of the men's rugby club. "... Student orgs play such a huge role at the university. Without the funding, it can make student's lives worse. Yes academics are important, but student orgs are also important for students. So without that funding, there are students that won't be able to find their groove so they'll be worse off mentally and physically. I want to urge you to continue student funding."

Another student, Teddy Masterson, urged the CSG to separate political issues from the need to fund student organizations.

"I get it. You have political views you want to push, but don't screw other students while doing that. I sympathize with the cause, but that pales in comparison to students facing food insecurity and more. What are we going to do about it? We are the student government, not the Pentagon. Don't withhold student funding."

Representative Danah Owaida emphasized that there were no plans to cut funding for essential student services, like Airbus transport, but defended the summer funding suspension amid the Israel-Gaza conflict.

"This isn't about politics. This is about basic human decency," she said. "I am Palestinian and was elected here. A lot of people believe in this cause. Why is our university putting our tuition into arms? There are statistics showing that UofM does not fund it's clubs nearly as much as other schools, so maybe that anger needs to be directed towards the regents instead of that falling only on CSG. Why are we angry at students who are representing the masses when the regents could solve this problem?"

The university's Board of Regents has maintained that they will not alter their investment policies.

Topics University of Michigan, Israel