FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice
May 1, 2025
Contact: Liz Jacob, [email protected], (313)-993-4505 | John Philo, [email protected] | Valentina Pereda (ADC) [email protected]
ON INTERNATIONAL WORKERS’S DAY, FORMER UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES SUE THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN FOR WRONGFUL TERMINATION AND BLACKLISTING BECAUSE THEY EXPRESSED
PRO-PALESTINE SPEECH
One full-time employee and seven student employees were terminated by the University of Michigan solely for attending pro-Palestine protests on non-work time and outside of their jobs.
ANN ARBOR – On May Day, The Sugar Law Center and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee filed a federal lawsuit to protect the Constitutional and civil rights of workers whom the University of Michigan terminated and forever barred from future employment because they participated in pro-Palestine protests on the University’s campus. After attending a peaceful on-campus sit-in to call for the University’s divestment from Israel or participating in an impromptu demonstration on public sidewalks to call on Regents to meet with students and support divestment, workers were targeted by the University with adverse employment actions.
After speaking out in support of Palestinian human rights, eight workers – one full-time employee and seven student workers – were fired from their employment and permanently blacklisted from future employment for the entire University of Michigan system. The lawsuit alleges that the University’s actions violate the student workers’ First Amendment right to Free Speech and their Fourteenth Amendment right to Due Process. Further, the lawsuit states that these adverse employment actions are yet another attempt from the University of Michigan to unconstitutionally punish pro-Palestine protesters at the Ann Arbor campus.
“On May 3rd, 2024, I joined hands with members of the campus community outside the University of Michigan Art Museum to call on the regents to speak with us about divesting from israel’s genocide on Gaza. After the Regents refused to address the students and community members of the University, University Police pepper sprayed and assaulted us. Then, eleven months later, I and other workers were fired from our university employment and blacklisted as punishment for calling for divestment,” said Eaman Ali, a plaintiff and undergraduate student at University of Michigan. “The University of Michigan Regents are attacking our right to free speech so they can avoid accountability for their complicity in genocide. Despite their attempts to punish workers and paint the pro-Palestine movement as violent, we know that the real violence is the university’s insistence on funding the mass murder of Palestinians.”
“Sadly, the University of Michigan is trying to resurrect an old but previously discarded tactic of firing and blacklisting workers whose viewpoints they don’t agree with. By all accounts, each of our clients was a dedicated employee performing necessary work for the University” said John Philo, Executive and Legal Director of the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice. “University officials and Michigan’s Attorney General have taken many seemingly coordinated actions to undermine the free speech of pro-Palestine protesters on campus. It is critical that we fight back against these attacks on our Freedom of Speech. The University’s shameful and unconstitutional attempts to silence viewpoints by firing student workers and forever barring them from any future employment must be reversed.”
“There is a nationwide assault on freedom of expression if you support the rights of the Palestinian people. The contempt for the constitutional rights of pro-Palestine advocates should be offensive to anyone who values their right to speak” said Chris Godshall-Bennett, National Legal Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. “The government, whether federal, state, or a public university, cannot punish you because they don’t agree with you, even if you work for them. We will not cede these rights and those who violate them will be held to account.”
“By firing workers as a means to suppress speech it disagrees with, the University of Michigan violates their rights both as citizens and as employees,” said American Federal of Teachers- Michigan President Terrence Martin. “The Michigan labor movement stands with all workers on campus. We will always fight to uphold free speech and conduct that is protected by the First Amendment, and we’re especially alarmed that the University is prepared to violate state labor law by refusing to bargain the termination of a member of our union.”
“The University of Michigan claims to value activism, political engagement, and dissent. But when that free speech addresses the genocide in Palestine, the University is quick to rewrite its rules,” said attorney Ezra Ritchin. “Much like the Trump administration, the University policed, punished, fired, and blacklisted those who bravely spoke out in support of Palestinian life and freedom.”
The Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys John Philo, Liz Jacob, and Tony Paris at the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, Chris Godshall-Bennett at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and attorney Ezra Ritchin.
About the Sugar Law Center
The Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice is a national non-profit, public-interest law center. Sugar Law Center provides legal advocacy, representation, education and technical support to workers and communities seeking systemic change toward economic and social justice. For more information on the Sugar Law Center, visit www.sugarlaw.org.
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About ADC
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is the largest Arab American grassroots organization in the U.S., founded in 1980 by former Senator James Abourezk. ADC’s mission is to defend and promote the human rights, civil rights, and liberties of at least 3.7 million Arab Americans residing in the United States. Through its work, ADC fights discrimination in the U.S., enhances public understanding of Arab history and culture, and partners with marginalized communities globally to advance social justice. Visit adc.org .