We, the undersigned alumni of the University of Michigan School of Social Work, stand in full solidarity with the students, parents, and campus community members participating in the TAHRIR Coalition's Popular University for Gaza encampment. We echo the organizers' calls for the University of Michigan to immediately divest the $6 billion of endowment funds both directly and indirectly invested in Israeli companies and military contracts that facilitate the murder of Palestinians. We are joined in this call by Michigan Social Workers for Palestine, an organization founded in November 2023 that focuses on mobilizing social workers to publicly support Palestinian liberation.
Together, we unequivocally reject the use of repressive force against University of Michigan students and their allies, and demand that President Ono and the Board of Regents do not follow in the footsteps of Columbia President Shafik, Barnard President Rosenbury, Yale President Salovey, Dartmouth President Beilock, Brown President Paxson, and others in their decision to again arrest those engaged in peaceful protest.
When university students in the United States protested the decades-long, documented Israeli occupation in Palestine, including the more than 30,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza and increasing settler violence in the West Bank over the past six months, administrators charged with their protection have instead violated their psychological, physical, emotional, and economic safety. No more. It is the duty of social workers to boldly stand on the front lines to advocate for oppressed communities and to provide services to populations experiencing harm.
The ongoing genocide is in stark opposition to the core principles and ethics of social work. Our profession is overtly political and calls on us to act with urgency, and to challenge the status quo. Social workers have an ethical responsibility to the broader society and Palestine is no exception. As social workers, we are tasked with affirming the dignity, worth, and self-determination of all people. Palestinians currently living under apartheid have been stripped of their dignity and right to self-determination. Children, families, healthcare workers, and journalists in Gaza are facing constant bombardment by the Israeli military, and are being starved and denied their right to psychological, physical, emotional, and economic safety. It is thus imperative that social workers engage in humanitarian and policy advocacy to advance social justice, safety, peace, freedom, and access to resources for Palestinians.
In solidarity,
1) Zainab Farhat, 2018
2) Ella Tutlis, 2019
3) América, 2022
4) Brittney Williams, 2017
5) Fatima Makki, 2000
6) Lauren Whitmer, 2015 and 2023
7) A.B., 2023
8) Larisa Mednis, 2023
9) Kat Reyes, 2023
10) Valerie Kowalski, 2019
11) Gabriella M.R.A., 2021
12) Joyce Ho, 2022
13) Annie, 2020
14) Danielle Dros, 2017
15) Erika Fox, 2011
16) Name Withheld, 2018
17) Souzan Naser, 2022
18) Kira Love, 2020
19) Abigail Allman, 2019
20) danny, 2012
21) Lauren Holden, 2012
22) Erica Watson, 2019
23) Elizabeth Mitchell, 2017
24) Lance Hicks, 2017
25) Genera Fields, 2023
26) Stephanie Buergers, 2023
27) Noran Alsabahi, 2018
28) Lindsay Hall, 2019
29) Marté Valadez, 2012
30) Kate Brantley, 2022
31) Sarah Emeritz, 2015
32) Lindsey Matson, 2017
33) Leslie A, 1986
34) Name Withheld, 2014
35) Diane Back, 2014
36) Zoe Russick Steinfield, 2016
37) Elizabeth Davis, 2003
38) Name Withheld, 2016
39) Amy Marzulla, 2010
40) Heather, 2011
41) Elizabeth Wroughton, 2015
42) Caitlin Figurski, 2006
43) Nicole, 2015
44) Katherine Wroughton, 2009
45) Brontë Munson, 2023
46) Carolyn Scorpio, 2018
47) LaMar Thompson-Hightower, 2016
48) Grace Sekulidis, 2020
49) Sandra, 2013
50) Savannah O’Neill, 2015
51) Rihan Issa, 2015
52) Danny Kaplan, 2019
53) Melissa, 2020
54) Elise Ellsworth, 2022
55) Laurie Smith, 2003
56) Kaylee Curless, 2023
57) Atalanta Welsh, 2023
58) Amy Belfer, 2021
59) Ann Olson, 2013
60) Ranya, 2019
61) Courtney Schwabauer, 2020
62) Erin Lane, 2010
63) Melissa Perez, 2016
64) Jonah Siegel, 2009 + 2014
65) Madinah Luqmaan, 2016
66) Elise Hernandez, 2017
67) Stephanie Yaldo-Sheena, 2020
68) Sabreen Ettaher, 2016
69) Duane Breijak, 2012
70) Rabia Syed, 2109
71) Mikayla Bowen, 2017
72) zeinab almanfi, 2018
73) Marie White, 2022
74) Maryam Tout, 2017
75) Jonathan Senda, 2016
76) Michelangelo Trujillo, 2013
77) Fanta Doumbia, 2018
78) Sydney Foster, 2022
79) Rachel Briegel, 2018
81) Isabelle Toupin, 2018
82) Ayah Chehade, 2023
83) Nicole DiMichele, 2016
84) Samantha, 2015
84) Colleen, 2016
85) Qurratulain Q Sajid, 2015
86) Lamia Moghnieh, 2016
87) Maria Ibarra-Frayre, 2016
88) Ursula Zuker, 2013 & 2015
89) Miranda Kharsa, 2017
90) Tess Jackson, 2017
91) Taryn Smith, 2017
92) Mallory Thomsen, 2019
93) Andreah Patsalis, 2023
94) Jessica Ramirez, 2017
95) Gretta Abu-Isa, 1992
96) Brook Sinclair, 2019
97) Alicia Hirt, 2014
98) Name Withheld, 2009
99) S.M. Fitzgerald, 2013
100) Audrey Baecker, 2023
101) Rebecca Wong, 2023
102) Justin Ramirez, 2021
103) Raina LaGrand, 2016
104) Elizabeth Einig, 2022
105) Min Hee Kim, 2019
106) Meghan, 2016
107) Saara Patel, 2015
108) Gretta Abu-Isa, 1993
109) Michael Kloc, 2022
110) Stephanie Ralls, 2018
111) Willa Adamo, 2023
112) Jennifer Perrone, 2014
113) Julia Rodgers, 2022
114) Katherine Downs, 2021
115) Kayla szatkiewicz, 2020
116) Sophie Ordway, 2021
117) Sadé Richardson, 2018
118) Greta Kaempf, 2017
119) Name Withheld, 2016
120) Christina Gallardo, 2008
121) Jennifer Mahaffy, 2016
122) Michelle, 2010
123) Felicia, 2020
124) Jasmine Rubio, 2018
125) Michelle Howard, 2017
126) Anne Blumenthal, 2023
127) Katy Martinez, 2022
128) Divya Chand, 2016
