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Elias Atkinson
Elias Atkinson was impeached from his position as a student government officer for incitement to violence against students. Atkinson has also spread hatred of Israel.
Elias Atkinson served as vice president of the Central Student Government (CSG) at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (U-M Ann Arbor). Atkinson ran under the “Shut It Down” party, which threatened to halt all CSG funding to student groups until U-M Ann Arbor committed to divest from Israel.
As of March 2024, according to the Michigan Daily, Atkinson was a member of TAHRIR at U-M Ann Arbor, a coalition of 100 groups campaigning for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. Tahrir is Arabic for “liberation.”
Atkinson’s anti-Israel activities took place after Hamas committed atrocities and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings on October 7, 2023. The terror attacks left approximately 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.” For more information, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
In March 2024, the Michigan Daily reported that Atkinson was a sophomore at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
As of December 2024, Atkinson went by the username “Elias Atkinson” and used the handle “@arlie.crowning” on Facebook.
In November 2024, the Central Student Government (CSG) of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (U-M Ann Arbor) voted in favor of a motion to impeach Atkinson and remove him as CSG vice president. The motion charged him with incitement to violence for his role in an incident of harassment of students who voted against a bill to allocate $440,000 of the student budget to Gaza.
In March 2024, Atkinson was elected as vice president of CSG under the Shut It Down party. The party’s platform, published on its Instagram account on March 20, 2024 read: “...IF CSG CANNOT BE USED TO SUPPORT OUR PURSUIT OF DIVESTMENT, WE WILL TAKE DECISIVE ACTION TO DISRUPT THE STATUS QUO. WE WILL HALT CSG ACTIVITY AND FUNDING DISBURSAL UNTIL THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DIVESTS. WE WILL SHUT. IT. DOWN. / EVERY DOLLAR COMING OUT OF THIS UNIVERSITY IS BLOOD MONEY…STUDENT LIFE CANNOT CONTINUE AS NORMAL WHEN OUR TUITION AND LABOR ARE BEING USED TO FUND A GENOCIDE…”
On May 24, 2024, the Ann Arbor Observer, in an article titled: “Funding Fight: ‘No business as usual, no clubs as usual, and no programming as usual’ until the U-M divests from companies associated with the Israeli military,” reported that Atkinson said: “The expectation is that it’s [CSG budget] used for student org funding…So we were like, ‘Okay, well, if that’s not a rule, then why do we have to follow it? We can change it…If we get this money, we’re going to frame it as reparations and donate it, essentially.’”
On October 6, 2024, Shut It Down posted on Instagram: “CSG General Assembly is voting on a proposed budget to send $440,000 to rebuilding education in Gaza…Join us to PACK CSG…We have the opportunity to…make sure the budget passes!!” Included in the post was a graphic titled: “CALL TO ACTION / PACK CSG! TO SEND $440,000 TO REBUILD HIGHER EDUCATION IN GAZA.”
On October 10, 2024, the Michigan Daily reported that at the October 8, 2024 CSG General Assembly meeting, CSG passed the budget but voted against the “Rebuilding Education in Gaza Act.”
According to the Michigan Daily, Speaker of the Assembly Mario Thaqi wrote: “After its passage, multiple members were met with harassment, intimidation, assault (spitting and touching people) by people associated with CSG President and VP [Atkinson] / Tahrir Coalition…Members were followed home and had to be escorted out by police for their safety.”
On October 10, 2024, Campus Reform posted on YouTube a video from the meeting titled: “Anti-Israel UMich Undergrads Harass Student Government” that showed anti-Israel activists reacting to the vote by shouting “race traitor” and “f**king Zionists” at the CSG members.
On October 9, 2024, Shut It Down posted on Instagram: “Last night, CSG zionists blocked a budget to send over $440,000 to rebuild Gaza’s education…At the end of the meeting, UMPD officers escorted zionist assembly members out of the building…Our fight is far from over…”
Included with the post was a video of the incident, showing anti-Israel students shouting: “Shame! F**k your vote, f**k CSG, this is not democracy” and then: “Who do you protect, who do you serve” at police officers escorting out students who were being harassed. Shut It Down captioned the video: “...UMICH STUDENT GOV ZIONISTS BLOCK GAZA REPARATIONS BUDGET RESOLUTION.”
On October 16, 2024, Shut It Down posted on Instagram: “Last week’s budget vote went beyond complicity – by choosing to deny funds to rebuild Gaza’s education, CSG members…cemented their role in history as active partners in genocide…”
Included in the post was a statement that said [slide 5]: “...By choosing to deny these funds, these CSG assembly members are not only complicit in, but active partners in genocide…similar to IOF soldiers…”
“IOF” means “Israeli Occupation Forces,” a term used by anti-Israel activists to demonize Israel’s army in place of its real name, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). "IOF" is used to allege that Israel’s existence is illegitimate by accusing Israeli Jews of illegitimately occupying the entire land.
Shut It Down’s statement concluded: “The people of Palestine will be victorious, the students of Gaza will rebuild, and the zionist entity will crumble. / Glory to our martyrs and long live the resistance…”
Anti-Israel activists use the term “resistance” to refer to violence and terror perpetrated against Israeli civilians and their allies. It is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence. Anti-Israel activists chant slogans such as: “Resistance by any means necessary!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” in response to terror attacks.
On the same date, around 40 current and former student-government members signed a statement in the Michigan Daily student paper, calling for Atkinson and Chowdhury to resign. The statement said: “...the current executive administration is sacrificing Assembly members’ safety…We are disgusted by Chowdhury and Vice President Elias Atkinson’s tacit endorsement of these actions, and we unequivocally condemn their complicity in the violence, intimidation and assault against our peers…”
The statement also said: “...We ask the CSG administration to protect student leaders…and foster an environment that allows for the productive and meaningful exchange of ideas instead of promoting violence.”
The statement continued: “Their [Atkinson and Chowdhury’s] inability to protect student representatives, their endorsement of violence and harassment and their misuse of official platforms to spread misinformation are direct violations of their duties and unbecoming of the office of the presidency…”
On November 13, 2024, the Michigan Daily reported that CSG approved a motion to impeach Atkinson and Chowdhury and remove them from office.
The motion charged Atkinson with [p. 9; Article 4] “inciting violence against the Central Student Government” saying he “gravely endangered the security of students.” It also said statements he made “encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — lawless action at the meeting, such as a Tahrir Coalition email alleging that ‘zionist members of CSG’ were attempting to punish Palestine and remarking that they ‘welcome this fight, and call on you to join us.’”
On September 10, 2024, Atkinson posted on Instagram: “EXECUTIVE STATEMENT: FUND THE STUDENTS OF GAZA!!” Included in the post was a three-page statement, co-authored by Chowdhury and Atkinson and reprinted in the Michigan Daily, that said [p. 1]: “The Shut It Down (SID) campaign was conceived as an act of protest against the University of Michigan and its material and moral complicity…in the genocide in Gaza…until the Regents of the University commit to divestment from israel [sic] and companies implicated in israel’s [sic] genocide of Palestinians…”
The statement concluded [p. 3]: “Free Palestine. From the River to the Sea.”
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.
The report accused the officials of [p. 1] “funding Israel’s crimes against humanity” and of “support for Israel’s genocide of Palestinians,” by refusing to divest from “companies that profit from Palestinian death.” The report also accused Israel of [p. 2] “moral monstrousness” and denounced U-M’s “disgusting and unconscionable political position of supporting Israel’s genocide of Palestinians…”
On the same date, the University of Michigan posted on YouTube a video recording of its Board of Regents meeting, during which Atkinson spoke. Atkinson said [00:58:09]: “...I’m here because the student body elected me…on a platform advocating for a single cause: just divestment from Israel…”
When questioned by a Regent about CSG’s “plans for the year on some of the issues that affect our campus,” Atkinson confirmed [01:01:40] that under his Shut It Down party, CSG would not be working on issues such as students’ mental health care, childcare subsidies and food insecurity. Atkinson said [01:02:06]: “...Like I’ve said, our only issue on the table is divestment…”
On May 24, 2024, the Ann Arbor Observer reported that Atkinson participated in an anti-Israel encampment at U-M Ann Arbor in April and May 2024.
Nearly 200 anti-Israel college encampments were set up in North America in spring 2024. Activists harassed Jews with antisemitic slurs, expressed their support [00:02:45] for Hamas terrorism and called [00:04:45] for Israel's destruction. They blocked Jews from campus facilities and limited access to those with special wristbands or who said they weren't a Zionist.
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.
BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.
The movement’s most notable achievement has been infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents and pro-terror activism on campus.
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