Michigan university campaign adds four defendants in fight over endowment

Federal authorities in Detroit charged four additional individuals with coordinating a criminal intimidation campaign against University of Michigan leadership.

The new indictment arrives nearly five months after the first wave of charges related to threats and property damage. Prosecutors detailed a multi-year pattern of incidents intended to pressure the university into severing financial links with Israel.

Investigators cited specific acts of disruption, including the placement of fake bloody corpses in the yard of a university board member. They also referenced the 2024 spray-painting of anti-Israel messages on the home of Santa Ono, who served as school president during that period.

Two of the four new defendants were taken into custody and are scheduled for their first court appearance on Friday. The other two individuals remain out of custody, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit.

The total number of people charged in this case stands at eight. U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. described the group as perpetrators who terrorize Jews, stating that Americans have a duty to fight them. He noted that the campaign targeted university officials to influence investment decisions.

The dispute centers on the university's endowment, which pro-Palestinian protesters have urged the school to divest of. The university reports that less than 0.1 percent of its total endowment is held in funds that might include companies in Israel. Lawyers for the activists criticized the federal involvement, arguing that local prosecutors typically handle such matters. John Philo of the Sugar Law Center said the government was using federal charges for acts traditionally reserved for local authorities.