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…”
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.’”
