A member of the Board of Regents for the University of Michigan Jordan Acker revealed that a “masked intruder” showed up at the door to his home calling for “defunding the police.”
Acker, who is described as being a “Democrat from Huntington Woods, Michigan” on the university website, wrote in a post on X that the masked individual came to his home around 4:40 a.m. and added that this “form of protest is not peaceful.”
“Around 4:40 A.M., a masked intruder came to the door of my family’s home with a list of demands, including defunding the police,” Acker wrote. “My three daughters were asleep in their beds, and thankfully unaware of what transpired.”
Around 4:40 A.M., a masked intruder came to the door of my family's home with a list of demands, including defunding the police. My three daughters were asleep in their beds, and thankfully unaware of what transpired.
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) May 15, 2024
Acker added: “This form of protest is not peaceful. Public officials should not be subject to this sort of intimidating conduct, and this behavior is unacceptable from any Michigan community member, especially one led by someone who called for the death of people they disagree with.”
The University of Michigan issued a statement revealing that “more than 30 student protesters” had engaged in demonstrations that took place outside of “at least one” of the residences of a member of the Board of Regents for the university, while other protesters went to other homes.
Protesters showed up at these residences with masks and placed “tents and fake corpses wrapped in bloodied sheets on the lawn,” and marched, chanted, and posted their demands on the doors of homes.
Student organizations that had also taken part in an anti-Israel encampment on campus, such as the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) at the University of Michigan, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), and Transparency, Accountability, Humanity, Reparation, Investment, Resistance (TAHRIR) Coalition took credit for the protests and demonstrations that had taken place, according to the statement.
The university criticized protesters for showing up to the homes of members of the Board of Regents, stating that doing so is “intimidating behavior and, in this instance, illegal trespassing.”
“This kind of conduct is not protected by speech; it’s dangerous and unacceptable,” the university added.
GOOD MORNING, @RegentHubbard.
— TAHRIR Coalition (@TAHRIRumich) May 15, 2024
This morning, on the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, students hand delivered our demands to Regent Hubbard. About 2 weeks ago, she laughed at students demanding divestment while she attended a party next door to our encampment. pic.twitter.com/TvPGv5NjWf
A video posted to X by the TAHRIR Coalition showed what looks like fake corpses with blood and tents sitting on the lawn in front of the home of University of Michigan Regent Sarah Hubbard. Protesters can be heard chanting, “Regent Hubbard you can’t hide. You are funding genocide.”
Protesters involved in the encampment at the University of Michigan have been demanding that the university divests from companies that they feel are profiting off of the war in Gaza.
“I will not be intimidated. In the wake of the 2020 election, public officials here in Michigan were subjected to threats from mobs of election deniers who engaged in similar conduct,” Acker added. “No group, on the right or left, should engage in this behavior, and it cannot be tolerated in any free society.”
