Lansing, Mich.-Jonathan Zou, a second-year student at the University of Michigan, was one of the thousands of students who joined pro-palestinian protests on university campuses throughout the country last year. Although the protests of the campus have decreased, the repercussions for students such as Zou remain.
Since his arrest by the University Police on October 7 after using a megaphone during a pro-Palestine march, Zou has been banned on all campuses at the University of Michigan, except to attend the class or seek medical attention.
Zou is one of the five people who face similar prohibitions that the American Union of Civil Liberties represents in a lawsuit that accuses the University of Michigan of violating its right to freedom of expression. The lawsuit, filed on Monday by ACLU in the Federal Court, also argues that the university “abused its authority to prohibit people of public property.”
“The University says that this history of activism appreciates, but will arrest the students, will prohibit students, monitor students and repress them through legal or school disciplinary means,” Zou said in an interview before the demand.
In response to a request for comments, a spokesman from the University of Michigan said that the university has not received the demand and has no comments at this time.
Pro-Palestinian manifestations swept the university campus last spring, with activists who established tents camps and, in some cases, their protests increase even more. Thousands were arrested; While many were dismissed their cases, others remain in legal limbo while pursuing their education.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that requested an aggressive action to combat anti -Semitism on university campuses and promising to process criminals and revoke visas for international students who are what he called “Hamas supporters.”
Michigan has been deeply affected by tensions about the Israel-Ahamas war, with a home Detroit Metro of the largest Arab community in the nation and an important Jewish population. These dynamics have caused disturbances on the campus of the University of Michigan, resulting in police clashes with protesters and protesters aimed at university regents for protests.
Last week, the University of Michigan suspended a Pro-Palestinian group for two years and obtained their financing after accusing the group of violating the university’s behavior standards.
ACLU’s demand was presented in the name of Zou and another current student, two recent graduates and a member of the Ann Arbor community. According to the lawsuit, individuals were issued prohibitions of rape after being accused of misconduct during protests, but they were never formally charged.
Zou participated in a march on the Ann Arbor Campus of the University of Michigan in the first anniversary of the October 7 attack of Hamas against Israel that killed 1,200 people and another 250 were taken as hostages. The 2023 attack caused a war that has devastated the Gaza Strip governed by Hamas.
Zou was arrested after using a megaphone during the march, but never formally charged.
The prohibitions of transfer have overturned “everyday lives, interrupted their education and work, and are blocking their ability to speak and protest freely on the vast campus of the university,” according to demand. People are asking the Federal Court to lift their prohibitions and prevent the university from issuing broad prohibitions of search in the future.
A high fire entered into force last month between Hamas and Israel, which led to hostage swaps by prisoners and an avalanche of help in the Gaza Strip after a 15 -month land war marked by devastation, hunger and Mass displacement in the territory. The imminent big one is the possibility that the fight resumes if the high fire breaks down after the first phase of six weeks.
