Friday’s board meeting represented one of the most contentious confrontations yet in over a year of opposition between MSU’s leadership and the student activists pushing it for divestment from Israel, who’ve previously told The State News that after months of what they see as inaction by the leaders, they’re eager to raise the stakes.

Guskiewicz was about a minute into his president’s report at the outset of the meeting when student activist Eli Folts rose from his seat and shouted "why did you choose to arrest me rather than talk to students?" referencing his arrest, along with four other activists, in October after refusing to leave the administration building during a sit-in protest. 

Other demonstrators rose from their seats as Guskiewicz attempted to continue his speech to criticize the president and the board for not showing up to a town hall held by the Hurriya Coalition on Wednesday, despite allegedly expressing that they would. Board members looked on with blank expressions. 

Eventually, the demonstrators broke into song — the lyrics of which were distributed between activists — as the meeting was adjourned. Guskiewicz and the majority of the board retreated to a back office. (Before Guskiewicz’s report, Board Secretary Stefan Fletcher said the meeting would be adjourned, moved online and that public comment would be cancelled if the meeting was disrupted). 

"I walked down to the board room, took back my dignity, took back my humanity," the demonstrators chorused. "Ain’t nobody gonna walk all over me again."

Trustees Rema Vassar and Dennis Denno — who have both expressed quiet sympathy for the students’ demands — and new trustee Mike Balow initially stood up following the meeting’s adjournment, before briefly conversing with Fletcher, and retaking their seats at the table. 

The back and forth between the demonstrators and trustees centered on organizing a meeting where students would be able to present their concerns about MSU's investments. Though demonstrators initially pushed for a meeting today, and then amended to some time this month, board members asked the activists to wait until April 10, when the entire board would be in town the day prior to its next official meeting. 

After several minutes of back and forth between those three trustees and demonstrators, Guskiewicz and board chair Kelly Tebay returned to their seats, and trustee Brianna Scott joined shortly after. Trustees Renee Knake Jefferson, Sandy Pierce, and new Trustee Rebecca Bahar-Cook did not return until the official meeting resumed.

Trustee Denno suggested to demonstrators that MSU has been thus far reasonable in negotiating with them, saying, "We're not the university that's called the cops on you," drawing groans from protestors who noted that several of them were arrested following the sit-in protest in October. He smiled before correcting himself that "In general, I mean, we're trying to keep this thing peaceful."

Balow, in urging the students to agree on the April 10 meeting, argued that the trustees could not be summoned at will — adding that some live far from campus — and criticized the demonstrators for conducting themselves in a disruptive manner.

Through the course of the exchange, MSU leaders also seemed opposed to the town hall format — which Hurriya initially pushed for — suggesting that it doesn't allow for a back and forth.

At several points during the discussion, comparative cultures and politics senior Jesse Estrada White convened with all the demonstrators present to agree on their negotiation strategy with the board. 

The Hurriya Coalition’s final proposal was to allow the board meeting to continue without interruption if the administration agreed to meet with student activists within the next two weeks in order to plan a larger discussion on April 10.

Guskiewicz and the trustees agreed to the proposal.

That proposal followed the model of a meeting that MSU’s president and board had yesterday with the Black Students Alliance  — another campus constituency that has consistently lobbied for the administration to meet demands — which Guskiewicz and Denno described as productive and healthy.