{"id":97304,"date":"2026-05-04T14:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T14:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/97304\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T14:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T14:52:14","slug":"anti-israel-student-activists-praised-by-umich-professor-in-commencement-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/97304\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-Israel student activists praised by UMich professor in commencement speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

A University of Michigan<\/a> professor praised students who had engaged in anti-Israel protests over the last two years during a Saturday commencement speech, drawing criticism from some of the academic institution\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cSing for the pro-Palestinian student activists, who have, over these past two years, opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel\u2019s war in Gaza,\u201d outgoing UMich Faculty Senate chair Prof. Derek Peterson said during his graduation remarks, to the cheers and applause of the audience.<\/p>\n

Peterson shared the address on X\/Twitter on Sunday, noting that his speech about the history of student activism, which had \u00a0\u201cmoved the university toward justice,\u201d had caused \u201ca furor on social media and in UM administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moments before his remarks about the anti-Israel activists, Peterson lauded the first Jewish professor at\u00a0
UMich for opening the institution to Jewish students as a safe haven from antisemitism at other universities.<\/p>\n

UMich President Domenico Grasso apologized on behalf of the university for Peterson\u2019s remarks about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying in a Saturday statement that they were \u201churtful and insensitive to many members of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peterson allegedly deviated from his remarks, and according to Grasso, did not represent the institutional position of neutrality.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone in our community is entitled to their own views, but this was neither the time nor the place. Commencement is a time of celebration, recognition, and unity,\u201d said Grasso. \u201cThe chair\u2019s remarks were expected to be congratulatory, not a platform for personal or political expression. Introducing such commentary in this setting was inappropriate and did not align with the purpose of the occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

UMich Regent Sarah Hubbard criticized Peterson\u2019s conduct, writing on X on Sunday that it was \u201cunbecoming for a leader of the greatest university of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would be difficult to implement consequences for tenured faculty, Hubbard noted, but the Board of Regents could set the tone and expectations for conduct, and she hoped to discuss with her colleagues and the administration how to achieve this.<\/p>\n

Republican regency candidate Michael Schostak said that Grasso\u2019s remarks were insufficient, calling for accountability such as leave without pay, stripping him of administrative support or research assistants, and cutting his expense budget.<\/p>\n

In a joint press statement with fellow Republican regency candidate Lena Epstein, Schostak said that the decision to feature Peterson as a commencement speaker was troubling given his \u201cdivisive track record.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCommencement ceremonies exist to unite the university community around academic achievement, personal growth, and the promise of what comes next. It should not become a stage for political activism that leaves students feeling excluded or uncomfortable during one of the most important milestones of their lives,\u201d Schostak and Epstein wrote on Sunday. \u201cWe support free speech and the open exchange of ideas. But with that freedom comes responsibility, and University leaders must be especially thoughtful about the voices they elevate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), a Students for Justice in Palestine<\/a> Michigan chapter, extolled Peterson’s speech, saying on Instagram on Saturday that the professor had emphasized that “Palestine is the popular movement across campus.”<\/p>\n

SAFE said that the demands of anti-Israel activists were demonstratively popular, not just in light of the speech, but also with UMich regent Jordan Acker\u2019s loss to \u201cpro-divestment\u201d Democrat regency candidate Amir Makled.<\/p>\n

Democrat leaders backed Makled over the pro-Israel Jewish regent, who, according to JTA, raised controversy in April due to resurfaced social media posts about Hassan Nasrallah as a martyr, memes with antisemitic connotations, and retweets of conspiracy theorist Candace Owens.<\/p>\n

UMich Hillel also said on Instagram Sunday that it was \u201cdeeply troubled\u201d by the commencement speech and the \u201cpolitical statements that alienate the Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n

ADL Michigan said on Sunday that Peterson\u2019s comments were inappropriate and divisive, after Jewish students were \u201cexposed to years of harassment, social ostracism, and discriminatory rhetoric.\u201d<\/p>\n

UMich subject to repeated protests, vandalism since Oct. 7<\/p>\n

UMich has been subject to repeated acts of vandalism and protests by anti Israel activists since the October 7 Massacre<\/a>, with UMich one of the 59 universities placed under investigation last March by the \u00a0Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for failures to address discrimination against Jewish staff and students.<\/p>\n

The homes of regents were repeatedly attacked by activists demanding that the university divest from companies with relations with Israel. In 2024, Acker said that his home had been attacked three times.<\/p>\n

In December 2024, an object was thrown through the window of Acker\u2019s family home, and their vehicle was graffitied with pro-Palestinian slogans and the red inverted triangle symbol used in Hamas propaganda to denote the targeting of enemies.<\/p>\n

In May of that year, activists masked in keffiyehs came to the door of Acker\u2019s residence before dawn, demanding the defunding of police. The same morning, around 30 protesters came to Hubbard\u2019s home, erected tents, and placed fake corpses wrapped in bloodied sheets on her lawn.<\/p>\n

The activists played both bullhorns and drums, and taped a list of demands to her front door.<\/p>\n

JTA reported that in June 2024, Acker\u2019s law office was tagged with the slogans \u201cfree Palestine\u201d and \u201cdivest now.\u201d Former president Sana Ono and University chief investment officer Erik Lundberg\u2019s homes were vandalized in October, and UMich Provost Laurie McCauley\u2019s home was graffitied with the phrase \u201cfree Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Acker, Hubbard, and Regent Mark Bernstein had continued to receive email threats as of June, leading the university to assign 24-hour security to its regents and executive officers.<\/p>\n

Like many US campuses, UMich was host to an encampment, established at the university to demand that the institution divest from any companies doing business with Israel and that it boycott Israeli academic institutions.<\/p>\n

Students previously told The Jerusalem Post that the encampment was set up in the middle of the campus and made it difficult to traverse the university.<\/p>\n

Last March, a memorial honoring the Bibas family<\/a>, the deceased October 7 hostages, was vandalized with the slogan \u201cFree Palestine\u201d and an inverted red triangle.<\/p>\n

SAFE was suspended for two years last February for its involvement in the spate of harassment and vandalism. While charges were leveled against protesters by the Attorney-General\u2019s office, NPR reported that they were dropped in May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A University of Michigan professor praised students who had engaged in anti-Israel protests over the last two years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[6826,14607,2492,5143,27884,33589,37,8576,27885,4270,1413,51],"class_list":{"0":"post-97304","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-adl","9":"tag-anti-israel","10":"tag-antisemitism","11":"tag-diaspora","12":"tag-hate-monitor","13":"tag-hillel","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-michigan","16":"tag-pro-palestinian-protests","17":"tag-students-for-justice-in-palestine","18":"tag-the-october-7-massacre","19":"tag-united-states"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116516876939384115","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}