12-04-2025
19 arrested during MSU protest Thursday
UPDATE: This story has been updated to include a correction from the Michigan State University Police and Public Safety spokeswoman on the reason names of those arrested were being withheld.
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Michigan State University Police and Public Safety officials confirmed with 6 News that evening during a protest at the John A. Hannah Administration Building.
The protesters were arrested for trespassing, officials say. They were issued citations and released at the scene.
MSU declined to release the names of those arrested for trespassing. Nadia Vizueta, communications manager for the MSUPPS, says in an email names were not being released due to 'privacy concerns.'
Vizueta confirmed with 6 News that both MSUPPS Chief Michael Yankowski and Deputy Chief Chris Rozman were present during the protest arrests.
Organizers of the protest, the Hurriya Coalition, reported in a news release on Friday that 17 people who were arrested were students and 2 of the people arrested were community members.
'This is just the latest move in MSU's long history of stalling, lying, and evading student protestors,' says Prayag Shankar, an MSU junior and student organizer with the Hurriya Coalition. The statement was from a Friday news release. 'From the encampment, to the arrest of five students in October, and the refusal to attend our town hall in February, the mass arrest of me and 18 other protestors, fits perfectly into a pattern of cowardice from President Gukiewicz and the Board.'
The group is challenging the university over its investment policies and what they say is support of Israel.
'The University actively invests millions of dollars in weapons manufacturers, tools of genocide, and directly into the state of Israel. There has been a consistent push from students, staff, faculty, and community over the past year to see Michigan State divest from these machines of war, and have been met with resistance at every turn,' the group wrote in a news release Thursday.
In news releases the group reports its demands from MSU as follows:
● Put divestment back on the table and discuss a path towards complete divestment
● Defend International and Undocumented students from deportation and revocation of visas, especially with regard to their rights to protest
● Establish a Middle East and North Africa Institute as a home for scholars and students alike here on MSU's campus
● Establish partnerships with Palestinian Universities and Scholars, especially those from Gaza
● Put students on the Investment Advisory Committee that are appointed from ASMSU or our coalition
● Bring back the 'social conscience' clause to the investment policy which was removed
Hurriya Coalition news release April 10 and April 11 2025
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