MSU protest peril: Revoked visas fuel fear

(This story was updated to clarify that MSU police acted under instruction from the administration to make arrests, according to a university spokesperson.  Readers may have taken an earlier version to mean MSU police acted independently.)

It was a rare occurrence: an activist group asking people not to protest.

Leaders of Michigan State University’s Hurriya Coalition advised international students not to participate in a rally and sit-in last week that end in 19 arrests.

It came on top of a dozen MSU visa revocations and at least another 31 statewide, mostly at the University of Michigan. 

Given that, Hurriya officials decided it was necessary to caution students about protesting. 

“We’ve done a lot of work dissuading most international students from being here,” said an organizer who did not provide a name.

The Hurriya coalition is a collective of student activists calling for divestment from Israel. But in light of the visa revocations, their protest also called for MSU to increase support for international students. While the arrested protesters, including 17 students, only received misdemeanor charges, minor crimes and pro-Palestine stances have both led the government to revoke some student visas.

Across the country, some visiting students and legal permanent residents have had their visas revoked over pro-Palestine activism such as writing op-eds. Meanwhile, other students have had visas revoked following minor infractions like speeding. With that in mind, Hurriya leadership prioritized international students’ safety.

“We say, ‘Do what’s best for you’ — there is absolutely no pressure to come,” the organizer said. “We’re really prioritizing their safety and their ability to stay in the country.”

On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Fox News op-ed that his department had “broad authority to revoke a visa.” The week prior, he called out activists who “are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students” and “taking over buildings.” 

“Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” Rubio wrote.

The visa renovations have created an atmosphere of fear and distrust at MSU. Most students declined to speak with City Pulse at the Hurriya rally, citing fears of federal retaliation. One student initially agreed to an anonymous interview and then ceased communications.

On a Reddit post offering help and support to international students at MSU, the top comment advises students against getting “baited by strangers online” and that “there are government agents who do things like this.”

Chris Root, an East Lansing resident who protested for divestment from South Africa at MSU in the 1970s, spoke at the Hurriya rally. In an interview afterward, she said the risk of government retaliation was more severe now than when she protested.

“The federal government has made a firm decision to crack down as hard and as fast on as many activists as possible,” she said.

Citing legal permanent residents who had been detained by ICE over their activism, Root said the high risk of student activism was unprecedented in recent memory.

“The way people can get locked up for a long duration for protest-related arrests is very different than how it used to be,” she said.

A statement from MSU spokesperson Amber McCann said MSU police were solely responsible for Thursday’s arrests, which she later clarified to say that the police acted under  MSU  administration orders. She added that the Hannah Administration Building, where the arrests were made, was closed to the public when the arrests were made and that students had been asked multiple times to leave.

The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center issued a statement saying that students whose visas were revoked were immediately vulnerable to deportation. MIRC staff declined last week to comment, saying they were too busy to provide interviews. Days later, MIRC announced it was laying off 72 employees amid federal funding cuts — more than half its staff.

On Friday, at a rally both outside and inside the state Capitol building, pro-Palestine protesters called on the state to better protect international students, according to Michigan Advance.

The protest and revocations also loomed over Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting during public remarks. Sociology Professor Amanda Flaim accused the university of enabling authoritarianism by failing to clarify how MSU will protect “our international researchers and students who are now shaking in fear they will be detained, deported and separated.” The effect, she said, was to “turn campus police on the students you swore to protect.”

Steve Linder, a pro-Israel advocate and MSU graduate, spoke immediately after, accusing MSU of not doing enough to combat antisemitism. Linder, a prominent Michigan political consultant, noted that some Hurriya member groups are under investigation by the federal government for ties to terrorist groups.

Last week, during a visit to Washington, MSU president Kevin Guskiewicz spoke with U.S. Reps. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, and Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, about the anxiety the revocations have prompted, a statement to the trustees said. In the letter, he invoked former MSU President John A. Hannah, whose legacy he felt was in danger.

Hannah transformed MSU from a regional college into a sprawling research university, then left to lead USAID — the international development agency Trump is trying to shut down. In 1943, Hannah established MSU’s Institute of Foreign Studies, which became the Office of International Studies. In the coming decades, MSU made waves in urban development internationally, according to an extensive 300-page report by Nancy Horn.

That report, which was hosted on USAID’s servers, disappeared in February. It only remains accessible via the Internet Archive.

The student visas’ revocations were far from MSU’s only brush with the Trump administration. Millions in grant money were lost after USAID was closed, according to Bridge Michigan, and 38 MSU projects were included in a spreadsheet released by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, which supposedly documented National Science Foundation-funded research promoting now-illegal diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Some professors say their projects were mislabeled.

Visiting Fulbright scholars’ funding was delayed in March, but they have since received their funding, according to Fulbright adviser Joy Campbell. Research Experiences for Undergraduates programs, which are funded by the NSF, were canceled if their grants were up for renewal, Associate Professor Stuart Tessmer said.

MSU has not been targeted by anti-DEI initiatives to the same extent as other colleges, though the risk looms over the administration. The University of Michigan closed its DEI office last month after being investigated by the Trump administration for civil rights violations.

 At the board meeting, Trustee Rema Vassar called the closure “a warning.”

“And if we do not heed it, we will find ourselves following in their footsteps,” she said.

Root said the visa revocations and other actions were meant to have a “chilling effect” on student activism.

“In modern times, I really think this is unprecedented,” she said.

— LEO V. KAPLAN