By MEE staff
Published date: 2 September 2025

A little over a year ago, Drin Shapiro was a student programme assistant at the University of Michigan's (UM) English Language Institute, and a student in his final year of a bachelor's degree in history.

Since then, he has faced criminal charges brought by the state's attorney general, lost his on-campus job, spent time behind bars, and, as of last month, was still being disciplined by the university despite having graduated in May.

All of this was because he took part in a student encampment against the war on Gaza on 21 May 2024. Shapiro was arrested during the police raid of the encampment and was later released on bond.