(JTA) – The University of Michigan’s new student government has campaigned with a simple message: Until the school agrees to remove its funds from Israel, there will be “no business as usual.”

Michigan’s central student government is responsible for distributing an annual $1.3 million budget to hundreds of student groups, funded by tuition. But after winning the election this spring, the Shut It Down Party announced it would deny funding to all student groups – including the Ultimate Frisbee Club and the ballroom dance team – unless the university agrees to divest.

“If CSG cannot be used to support our divestment agenda, we will take decisive action to break the status quo,” the party said in a March campaign statement. “We will cease CSG’s activities and funding until the University of Michigan divests. We will shut it down.”

The university says it will bypass the student union if it keeps its promise, but the tactic still worries some students.

“Without this funding, many student organizations will not be able to function as they should, which will make the lives of many students worse,” said Ryan Grover, a student and rugby player, at a student government meeting Tuesday night. “They will be much worse off mentally. And they will be much worse off physically.”

The student government narrowly voted to approve a $400,000 fall budget at the end of the session — potentially setting up a repeat of the summer session, when Michigan student government president Alifa Chowdhury rejected a proposed budget for student groups. Chowdhury is the chair of Shut It Down and a member of the pro-Palestinian student collective TAHRIR Coalition, which organized the school’s pro-Palestinian camps in the spring.

Whatever happens, history is a clear indication that protests against the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will shape another school year, with potential consequences even for students who are not involved on either side of the conflict.

Chowdhury did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. A student representative referred the matter to the school’s public relations department.

“The University of Michigan will provide funding to registered student organizations applying for fall semester funding,” a spokesperson said in a statement to JTA. “UM’s vice president for student life and dean of students informed the central student government on Aug. 19 of the decision to immediately begin a temporary funding process. This step was taken at the request of senior leaders within the CSG Assembly after the CSG president rejected a budget resolution passed unanimously by the Assembly in June.”

The autumn budget passed on Tuesday was not unanimous: it was adopted by 25 votes to 15.

Most Jewish groups in Michigan receive their funding from Michigan Hillel, an independent nonprofit organization, meaning they are not affected by student government funding decisions.

“All my programs are running normally and I actually only found out about it because my father sent me an article,” Ian Rosenberg, a representative of the university’s Jewish Engineering Association, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

But Michigan Hillel says the knock-on effects on Jewish students could be significant.

“We are deeply concerned about the potential impact on any student organization that relies on CSG funding and the overall chilling effect this could have on Jewish students on campus,” Michigan Hillel said in a statement. “In the past, Hillel student groups have received funding from CSG for campus-wide initiatives, and it is unfortunate that this situation could impact community-building efforts and further divide students.”

The organisation added: “It is disheartening to see student union leaders putting a divisive and discriminatory agenda above the wellbeing of their fellow students.”

Other student groups at the university that hold different viewpoints, including the Arab-Jewish Alliance and the campus chapter of the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The campus chapter JVP supports the camp movement and the TAHRIR coalition.

Michigan is not the only student body to take action after school leadership failed to meet student demands regarding Israel. This week, the student senate at the New School in New York City also pledged to “freeze funding for all student organizations until divestment is achieved.”

Other student leaders have also clashed directly with Hillels on their campuses: The University of British Columbia Student Union nearly voted to kick Hillel off campus last semester, and a federal complaint filed by a pro-Israel group against Purchase College in New York alleges that the school’s student union also targeted its local Hillel.

Some universities made agreements with student activists last semester to clear out pro-Palestinian camps in exchange for making official presentations on divestment proposals. Michigan, however, was not one of them. After briefly reviewing the issue in March, the Board of Trustees declared that there would be “no divestment of any kind from university assets.”

Michigan — whose Ann Arbor campus is home to large numbers of Jewish and Palestinian students — has seen an aggressive current of activism on campus that goes beyond simply setting up tent camps and includes vandalism of a Jewish regent’s office, disruptions of awards ceremonies and orientation events for new students, and, last weekend, a harassment campaign at the state Democratic convention in support of a Palestinian activist’s failed bid for a regent seat.

In some ways, this flagship public school has recently taken a more aggressive stance toward pro-Palestinian protesters than many other schools its size. Last fall, President Santa Ono removed from the ballot another student union proposal that would have called on the school to reduce its investment from Israel, while also announcing the creation of a new institute to study anti-Semitism.

The school has disciplined some of its camp participants and rescinded a civil rights award given to a student protest leader after she posted an Instagram post calling for “death and more” for “every single person who supports the Zionist state.” The latter action led dozens of other award winners to forego their own awards – named after Martin Luther King Jr. – last week as they joined calls for divestment.

Ono was called before a congressional committee earlier this month to testify about anti-Semitism on his campus. The testimony took place behind closed doors.

At the student government meeting, some advocates of divestment urged those concerned about the potential loss of funding for student groups to direct their anger at the Michigan Board of Regents.

“Many people obviously believe in this cause,” said Dana Owaida, a Palestinian student representative. “Why are we angry at students who are just reflecting the opinion of the masses when the government could actually solve this problem?”

Others expressed concern that blocking funding for student groups was a misguided attempt.

Teddy Masterson, who recently earned his master’s degree from Michigan and now works at the university, said he was angry with the regents for their handling of the pro-Palestinian protests, but said, “We are just a caucus. We are not the Pentagon.”