Student starts GoFundMe for students arrested at MSU campus protest

A. GoFundMe Formed to support five protesting students arrested Last Friday, they were arrested on trespassing charges after staying at the Hannah Administration Building after closing time as part of a sit-in.

The GoFundMe, which has surpassed its $1,500 goal by raising $1,780 at the time of publication, was organized by international relations senior Isabella Tillotson.

All five students face misdemeanor charges, up to 30 days in jail and a $250 fine, according to the GoFundMe.

“Students engaged in civil disobedience, a crucial aspect of American democracy and a key component of many social justice movements,” Tillotson wrote on GoFundMe. “The purpose of the action was completely peaceful and non-violent: they were arrested while holding guns and singing.”

Following the Board of Trustees meeting on October 25, students organized an event. sit-in In the lobby of the Office of the President, they reiterated their demands that the university reconsider its position on withdrawing from Israel.

MSU spokeswoman Emily Guerrant told The State News that protesters sitting in the lobby of the president’s office were given “multiple notices” throughout the day about the building’s closing time. The office closed at 5pm and the building closed an hour later.

When protesters refused to leave the building after hours, they were arrested by MSU police. A criminal complaint was filed for the misdemeanor and they were released from custody the same evening.

Tillotson said he set up GoFundMe to help students pay legal fees.

“A lot of my friends have been arrested, so I wanted to make sure they had the resources to fight any legal intervention,” Tillotson told The State News.

Tillotson said GoFundMe is offering a refund option to anyone who donates if the charges are dropped.

Tillotson said there are other ways to help, such as spreading awareness about the arrests. Tillotson said it is also important for students to contact the prosecutor’s office to ask for the charges to be dropped.

“People need to start thinking more broadly about this situation,” Tillotson said. “Instead of, ‘These people were arrested, and I want to help them,’ it’s, ‘These people were arrested because of an institution that I support, and I want to participate.'”

Comparative Cultures and Politics senior Jesse Estrada White, one of the arrested protesters, said he and other protesters have received their arraignment dates.

“We see the potential of having to pay fines, but that’s also like paying lawyers,” Estrada White said.

He said those who want to support the protesters can call Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane and ask for the charges to be dropped.

“A university, the state of Michigan, and Ingham County should not be charging protesters with a crime,” Estrada White said. “They must act according to our demands.”

Another protester arrested, Eli Folts, an expert on social relations and politics, said he and other protesters were represented. National Lawyers Guild. He said the GoFundMe was “mostly just to be prepared.”

“The lack of preparation and having to pay immediately out of pocket would have been very stressful considering we were still students,” Folts said.

Despite the circumstances, students say they are not done advocating for divestment.

“After all, as students, we pay to go here,” Folts said. “We are stakeholders in the university and should be considered as such. If (President Kevin Guskiewicz) is going to ignore us, we will continue to press for a meeting with the board of trustees and the president about divestment.”