In the email, which was obtained by The State News, MSU President Guskiewicz and board Chair Kelly Tebay told the coalition, "We will not be attending your townhall event and never indicated we would be attending."

Explaining their decision, Guskiewicz wrote that they "remain willing to continuing to meet with student groups to learn about their interests and concerns" but that they "believe those conversations are most productive and effective when we can have a two-way dialogue and listen to each other and views of others that may not always align with our own."

Comparative cultures and politics senior Jesse Estrada White said the Hurriya Coalition had previously received verbal confirmation from four trustees who said they would attend the event: Dennis Denno, Brianna Scott, Rema Vassar and Mike Balow. 

"There's four of us up here, and there are nine people missing: the eight trustees and the president," Estrada White said. 

Questions at the town hall would not only be about divestment, he said, but also about issues affecting marginalized students under the new federal administration.

A recent wave of executive orders by the federal government has prompted concern regarding how they will impact the university. Among these orders include the dismantling of DEI, deportation of certain international students, and more recently one that aims to prevent transgender athletes from participating in women's sports.

Earlier this year, Guskiewicz announced the creation of several rapid response teams to address changes in the federal government that will affect campus life. The Hurriya Coalition initially planned on discussing these teams with the board and president at the town hall.

"Trump is attacking our friends, our classmates, our coworkers and our family," Estrada White said. "Instead of reassuring students, the board and the president chose to ignore us. Now they bear responsibility for Trump's plans. Every student attacked by this administration should weigh on their conscience."

Sitting alongside Estrada White were three other students, all of whom were arrested last year at a sit-in where they demanded to speak with the president about divestment.

One of these students, social relations and policy senior Eli Folts, said he doesn’t feel proud to be a part of MSU.

"I'm a stakeholder of this university, and as elected officials, the trustees are beholden to the people of Michigan, and they do not act like it," Folts said. "They act like they're above it for their own political and personal gains."

With the help of the National Lawyers Guild, Folts and the other arrested students were able to work down initial misdemeanor charges to a civil infraction and fine that would not appear on their records, he said.

"He would rather arrest five of his students who care about people, that's it, basically, instead of sitting down for literally a few minutes, at least, to talk about their investments in Israel and the weapons manufacturers," Folts said.

Morale was high among the coalition and attendees, however. The town hall rapidly shifted to a call to action to make their voices heard, even if administrators were not there to listen.

The 200-person crowd began to march from Wells Hall to Cowles House, the residency of Guskiewicz, to hand deliver the list of questions they initially planned to ask in person.

"We'll make so much noise that he can no longer ignore us," Estrada White said.

Students chanted, "Trustees, Trustees you can’t hide, you are funding genocide," and "100,000 people dead and you arrested us instead," as they marched in the bitter cold toward Cowles House.

Upon reaching, the crowd surrounded the entrance of Cowles House, still chanting.

Social relations and policy senior Ateeyah Abdul-Wasi, who led the march, said the president’s refusal to attend the event brought them outside his house. 

"He doesn’t want to talk to us, we’ll bring the conversation to him," Abdul-Wasi said.

Adul-Wasi said protests for divestment today share similarities with protests regarding divestment from apartheid South Africa — protests that resulted in MSU divesting in 1978.

But according to a "communications plan" sent by the university last semester to faculty and staff, divesting from Israel and weapons manufacturers is far more complex than South Africa.

Abdul-Wasi asked, "Why is divestment different?"

This was one of many questions they planned to ask the board and president. The list of questions also included some regarding the revised BOT 607 policy that removed a clause concerning "social conscience" and how the university plans to protect DEI, international and undocumented students amid changes in the federal government.

"To them, we're just commodities," Abdul-Wasi said. "I look at every single one of y'all, and I see you as people, people with stories, struggles, things that you want to achieve, not stand out here in front of his house. I know you have jobs. It's his job he's not even doing."

After nearly an hour without any sign of a reply, the chanting stopped and a coalition member approached the front door, knocked loudly and taped their list of questions to it.

The crowd then was dismissed by Abdul-Wasi, who stressed the importance of attending the board’s Friday meeting to hold administrators responsible.

"We will be heard, we will be seen and we will not stop showing up," they said. "We will never stop showing up for Palestine. We will never stop showing up for our students, our undocumented students, our Black students, our Indigenous students, everybody. Because we will continue to organize until we no longer have to."