Michigan
Campus protests against Gaza attacks continue in Michigan amid national crackdown

Amid a national crackdown on campus protests supporting Palestinians and calling for divestment from Israel that have resulted in about 2,300 arrests, a tent encampment at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor set up almost two weeks ago has remained standing with commencement ceremonies set for Saturday that may see additional demonstrations.
And Wayne State University officials on Friday defended the actions of campus police who made one arrest after removing protesters accused of disrupting a Board of Governors meeting attended by the university president.
“The camp size varies throughout the day and night from 30-100” people, University of Michigan Deputy Police Chief Melissa Overton said Friday afternoon of the encampment at the Diag in Ann Arbor. “We have not made any arrests.”
Overton did not comment on what their possible plans were for the encampment, saying that the department does not discuss strategy. Lt. Rene Gonzalez of the Michigan State Police said they have been assisting university police as they do for other events. He did not comment further on future plans for the encampment.
At universities across the country, students have set up camps and protested, calling for divestment from Israel over its actions in Gaza that have resulted in thousands of deaths. In other states, such as in California at UCLA and in New York at Columbia University, police this week have raided protest camps, resulting in numerous arrests that have brought criticism from some civil rights advocates and elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, and praise from some Republicans such as House Speaker Mike Johnson. In Michigan, the tent encampments in Ann Arbor and at Michigan State University have not resulted in police crackdowns, but police did make one arrest on April 26 at Wayne State University that drew criticism from many faculty members in a letter. Organizers of the encampment at Michigan State University voluntarily ended it April 27, reporteed student newspaper The State News.
An April 30 letter signed by more than 100 professors and other faculty members at Wayne State read: “We … unequivocally denounce the actions of university officials in perpetrating violence against the students of this university at the April 26 Board of Governors meeting. We particularly condemn President Kimberly Espy and the Board of Governors, who looked on silently as a large group of … students were assaulted and violated by campus police and security.”
The letter alleged that “plainclothes police and security, some of whom were planted in the audience, rapidly and aggressively moved against the students. The President and Board looked on without emotion as the officers they oversee forcefully cleared the room of Arab, Muslim, and Jewish students, faculty, and community supporters. Campus police, in violation of their own protocol, flagrantly laid their hands on female students who were doing nothing more than chanting. One student was inexplicably arrested, even though students never received any order to vacate or disperse.”
The letter added “the attacks embody the latest wave of racist and McCarthyite repression against students on campuses across the United States.”
A Wayne State University spokesman, Bill Roose, released a statement Friday on behalf of the university that painted a different picture and criticized the protesters.
The Wayne State statement said that “more than a dozen public comment speakers exemplified Wayne State’s values and provided robust remarks.”
But “after transitioning to the business portion of the meeting, a group of protesters inside the crowded room locked their arms and announced, via a megaphone, that they were taking control of the meeting,” Wayne State said in its Friday statement. “Their actions halted the meeting and prevented it from continuing. At the same time, additional protesters locked their arms, blocking the only two exits. For a short time, no one was able to leave the room. Recognizing a real threat to the safety of everyone there, WSUPD (Wayne State University Police Department) approached the protesters, identified themselves as police, asked the protesters to leave, and ultimately removed them from the room.”
The statement said one protester, not a student at Wayne State, was “was briefly detained, cited for disorderly conduct, and released.”
Wayne State added that while “we will continue to support the free speech of everyone in our community … we are also responsible for ensuring the safety of our campus and our ability to carry out normal operations.”
A report in the South End, the campus newspaper, said the student who was arrested attended Oakland Community College and was charged with disorderly conduct. The meeting included public comments made in favor of divestment before the clashes.
The protests at the University of Michigan echo demonstrations held about 40 years ago calling for divestment from South Africa. In March 1986, a group of Michigan students constructed a shanty at the Diag to symbolize the suffering of Black people under apartheid in South Africa, calling upon the university to divest from companies doing business in the country, the Free Press reported.
In 1983, the state of Michigan enacted a law requiring public universities and colleges to divest from South Africa and sell their investments in companies that do business in South Africa, such as General Motors. But the University of Michigan fought back against the new law, filing a lawsuit against the state saying the law restricted their constitutional autonomy. The university’s regents eventually voted in October 1988 to fully divest from South Africa. The university divested from tobacco in 2000 and disinvested from fossil fuels in 2021. In 2022, the university said it would end future investments in Russia.
In 1978, Michigan State University became one of the first universities in the U.S. to divest from South Africa.
UAW President Shawn Fain, the leader of a union headquartered in Detroit, posted a thread this week on X expressing support for pro-Palestinian protesters, writing on May 1: “The UAW will never support the mass arrest or intimidation of those exercising their right to protest, strike, or speak out against injustice. Our union has been calling for a ceasefire for six months. This war is wrong, and this response against students and academic workers, many of them UAW members, is wrong.” Fain in December compared the struggles of Palestinians to the struggles against apartheid in South Africa.
Efforts in Michigan to divest from Israel have faced stiff challenges in recent years.
In 2017, a law went into effect in Michigan that prevents public contracts with anyone who supports divestment from or boycotting Israel.
More: During Passover and NFL draft, Michigan protests were held on both sides of war in Gaza
The Tahrir Coalition, which organized the tent encampment in Ann Arbor, did not respond to messages seeking comment. Organizers with Tahrir have been asking to meet with university regents to discuss divesting from Israel. An email sent Friday afternoon to the regents was not immediately returned. In recent weeks, a popular Islamic cleric based in Texas, Omar Suleiman, addressed the encampment via video and the religious leader at the Islamic Center of Detroit, Imam Imran Salha, spoke at the encampment, reported the Michigan Daily.
For Saturday’s commencement, the university announced on its website certain restrictions that include a “prohibition of banners, flags and anything that obstructs sightlines.” The university said that while it respects free speech and recognizes the history of protests at commencement, “if protests significantly impede the program, leadership will take steps to de-escalate and address the interruption.”
Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or X @nwarikoo.

Michigan
Here’s how to secure your Michigan State March Madness tickets early

The Michigan State Spartans fell short of the Big Ten Championship, but their journey this spring may just be getting started.
- Buy tickets to Michigan State vs. Bryant University at SeatGeek, StubHub, and Ticketmaster.
The March Madness bracket was revealed shortly after the Big Ten Championship game on Sunday, and as a No. 2 seed, the Spartans will face No. 15 Bryant University.
The Spartans and Bulldogs take the court on Friday, March 21, 2025 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Marquette and New Mexico, Saint Mary’s and Vanderbilt, and Alabama and Robert Morris will also go head-to-head at Rocket Arena.
The winners of each game will stay in Cleveland for the second round of the tournament on Sunday, March 23.
Times for each game are to be determined, but Spartans fans can secure tickets early with an all sessions pass, guaranteeing entry to each game. Buy tickets to Michigan State vs. Bryant University at SeatGeek, StubHub, and Ticketmaster.
Michigan
Michigan boy's death raises concerns about unregulated hyperbaric oxygen therapy

The death of a 5-year-old in a hyperbaric chamber in Michigan has prompted calls for more oversight of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the largely unsupervised wellness industry before another tragedy occurs.
Thomas Cooper was killed Jan. 31 when a fire broke out in a hyperbaric chamber at the Oxford Center, an alternative medicine clinic in the Detroit suburb of Troy. On Monday, the Oxford Center founder and CEO and three of her employees were charged in Thomas’ death.
Courtesy family of Thomas Cooper
Hyperbaric chambers are pressurized, tubelike devices that people lie or sit in for treatment, depending on the type of chamber. The therapy involves breathing in air that consists of 100% oxygen, which helps the body heal more quickly but also creates a highly combustible environment. The treatment method has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration to help over a dozen conditions including carbon monoxide poisoning, severe wounds and decompression sickness in scuba divers.
The Oxford Center’s website lists over 100 conditions it says it treats, including many that the FDA has not approved for hyperbaric oxygen therapy, such as cancer, dyslexia, Alzheimer’s, Lyme disease and autism — though it is not illegal to use hyperbaric chambers for these purposes. In a statement to NBC News, an attorney for the Oxford Center said the center was “disappointed” by the charges filed against four staff members.
“The timing of these charges is surprising, as the typical protocol after a fire-related accident has not yet been completed. There are still outstanding questions about how this occurred,” Sam Vitale said via email about Thomas’ death.
Thomas was receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy for sleep apnea and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, according to his family’s attorney, which are not among the conditions approved by the FDA for such treatment. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said the boy died within seconds after a single spark started a fire in the hyperbaric chamber he was in. Officials have not said yet what the cause of the fire was.
In a news conference Tuesday, Nessel accused Oxford Center staff of holding “safety among their lowest considerations” but said officials had no way of knowing about the danger until it was too late, and cannot proactively investigate other facilities.
“Michigan law doesn’t require any oversight over the use of hyperbaric chambers, so without having some sort of probable cause to believe that there are crimes being committed involving hyperbaric chambers in other places in the state, we wouldn’t have the authority to go in and perform an inspection,” Nessel said.
The Oxford Center was subject to inspections every few years by the Troy Fire Department, said Michael Koehler, the fire department’s deputy chief. He said the center applied for a permit when it opened, indicating it would be using hyperbaric chambers, and was last inspected in March 2023.
“But our inspections are fire- and life-safety focused,” Koehler said in a phone interview Friday. “There’s nothing that covers the operation or the maintenance of the chambers themselves.”
While hospitals that use hyperbaric chambers abide by codes developed by the National Fire Protection Association, a standards development organization, Michigan is not unique in lacking a regulatory framework for hyperbaric oxygen therapy outside of traditional health care facilities, said John Peters, executive director of the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society, a nonprofit organization that accredits hospitals and freestanding facilities with hyperbaric chambers in the absence of government regulation.
At the moment, nearly 150 facilities across the country are accredited by the group, with two in Michigan.
The accreditation process involves on-site inspections and verification that equipment is maintained and specialists are properly trained, and costs about $10,000 for an accreditation that lasts for three to four years, Peters said.
He estimated that thousands of spas, wellness companies and other storefronts are operating hyperbaric chambers in the U.S. without having undergone accreditation, and he said he fears many may not be upholding stringent standards.
Two Democratic legislators in Michigan, state Sen. Stephanie Chang and state Rep. Sharon MacDonell, are working together to explore regulatory options after Thomas’ death.
Chang said she was alarmed by what appeared to be a myriad of problems that led to the fire, based on what the Michigan attorney general outlined, including allegedly not having a properly trained technician operating the hyperbaric chamber.
“Let’s fix all of those loopholes,” Chang said. She said she and MacDonell are aiming to introduce legislation in the spring.
MacDonell said it was important not just to make hyperbaric chambers safer but also to stop businesses from making unproven claims about what the therapy can do.
“People are taking advantage of parents with children with hard-to-treat conditions, and just kind of monetizing the desperation of the parents,” she said. “It’s just incomprehensible.”
Thomas’ death comes as the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy has proliferated, gaining steam in recent years thanks to celebrities who have touted it for everything from anti-aging to boosting their mental health. The FDA has warned that some claims about what hyperbaric chambers can do are “unproven” and encourages patients to only go to accredited facilities.
Hyperbaric chamber fires are rare, but not unprecedented. In 2009, a 4-year-old and his grandmother died after a blaze at an unaccredited Florida clinic where the boy was receiving treatment for cerebral palsy. Two staff members were charged in their deaths, one of whom was a doctor who lost his medical license.
The 2009 case did not prompt national safety regulations, Peters said. He is hopeful that Thomas’ death will.
“We desperately need mandatory accreditation,” he said. “We’re hoping that this will turn the page.”
While there are guidelines for how to safely construct and operate hyperbaric chambers, there is no consistent federal, state or local oversight of the practice outside of hospitals. The FDA said in an email last month that it regulates certain hyperbaric chambers that meet the agency’s definition of Class II medical devices, which are “intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease.” But it does not regulate the practice of medicine and referred NBC News to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, The Joint Commission and state medical licensing agencies for more information.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requires Medicare and Medicaid providers to comply with parts of the National Fire Protection Association code, but that does not apply to other facilities, which must still adhere to local building and fire codes, said Brian O’Connor, a senior engineer at the National Fire Protection Association.
The Joint Commission, a nonprofit organization that accredits over 24,000 health care programs around the world, said in an email that it has emergency procedures and training drills for hospitals that have hyperbaric chambers but does not accredit places such as the Oxford Center.
Meanwhile, Michigan’s health department, its occupational safety agency and the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs all said they do not have oversight of hyperbaric chambers. The licensing agency said facilities using hyperbaric chambers are not required to be licensed, which Peters said was shocking.
“Why?” he said. “Even a hairstylist has to have a license, and she’s not going to blow up her whole salon.”
Michigan
Tre Donaldson called his shot: Inside the play that sent Michigan to title game

Michigan Wolverines guard Tre Donaldson (3) drives the ball past Maryland guard Rodney Rice, left, and Ja’Kobi Gillespie (0) on his way to the game winning basket during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Big Ten Conference tournament in Indianapolis, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)AP
-
News1 week ago
Gene Hackman Lost His Wife and Caregiver, and Spent 7 Days Alone
-
Politics1 week ago
Republicans demand Trump cut American legal association out of nominee process
-
Politics1 week ago
Agriculture secretary cancels $600K grant for study on menstrual cycles in transgender men
-
News1 week ago
States sue Trump administration over mass firings of federal employees
-
News1 week ago
Trump Seeks to Bar Student Loan Relief to Workers Aiding Migrants and Trans Kids
-
Politics1 week ago
Kristi Noem says 2 leakers accused of disclosing ICE operations ID'd: 'Put law enforcement lives in jeopardy'
-
News5 days ago
Grieving Covid Losses, Five Years Later
-
World5 days ago
Ukraine accepts 30-day ceasefire in US talks: What it means for Russia war