Having grown up in a predominantly Jewish community in a Miami suburb, Elliot Saye enrolled at the University of Michigan in the fall of 2023 amid a turbulent and dangerous time for Jewish students. “After October 7, there were encampments and protests and all of that, but the pro-Palestinian groups had been organizing on the campus for a few years before I got here last year.” 

A student government political party committed to anti-Israel rhetoric and activities called Shut It Down had gotten members elected to student government over the previous few election cycles. “They had most of the representatives on student government and held the preside and vice-president seats so that gave them a lot of leeway. By last fall they tried to shut down student government and send all the funds – which was more than $1 million – to Gaza or something like that,” said Elliot. “Obviously, the school wasn’t going to let that happen with the money, but they were close to shutting down student government.”

Working with others in the Jewish and fraternity community, Elliot joined a new political party on campus – Empower – which, while not being explicitly Jewish or pro-Israel, presents a more tolerant viewpoint and encourages Jewish students to have a louder voice. “The goal for the party is to just simply restore student government to what it should be and get these ‘Shut It Down; kids out of student government and stop what they were trying to do.”

An Empower representative got elected student government president last year after the previous office holder was removed from office. Elliot joined the ticket, and this fall was elected as the representative from the Ross School of Business.

While his family hails from Columbia, Elliot’s heart is also in Israel. “I care a lot about Israel and the Jewish community. My entire life revolves around the Jewish community so when the president of the student government sat me down with the Chabad Rabbi and asked me to run for this position, I had to do it. I knew that I had a big network of support from my AEPi brothers and that would be important in my campaign.”

The campaign wasn’t always easy as there were some on campus who tried to thwart Elliot’s election by making oblique references to the Jewish community. On election day, opponents held a large pro-Palestinian rally on campus in an attempt to intimidate students from voting. By mobilizing the Jewish and Greek community – with a lot of help from his AEPi brothers – Elliot’s campaign was a success.

“I’m looking forward to working with both the Jewish and non-Jewish community to help run an organization that is in the best interests of all the students. I wasn’t really interested in getting involved in campus politics, but I had to do what I could to help our community and get our campus back to normal.”