Jordan Acker, the University of Michigan regent who orchestrated a legal and surveillance campaign against pro-Palestinian student protesters, is now facing exposure of explicit sexual messages attributed to him just days before a contentious primary convention that will determine his political future.
The Slack messages, reviewed by the Guardian, contain vulgar sexual commentary about a Democratic strategist and crude remarks about a female U-M student, including a photo of her with friends. Six members of the Slack group confirmed seeing the messages when they were originally posted between 2020 and 2021.
Acker's attorney denies his client ever used Slack and expressed doubts about the authenticity of the screenshots. When pressed on whether Acker denied writing the messages, the lawyer offered a non-answer: "Your understanding that Mr Acker does not deny this is not correct or incorrect." The Guardian cross-referenced the Slack account to an email linked to Acker's personal Gmail account.
The timing is explosive. Democratic delegates from across Michigan will gather on April 19 to choose two nominees for the regents board, a governing body that has become unexpectedly heated terrain in the national campus debate over Israel. Acker's confrontational push for prosecutions and surveillance against protesters had drawn fierce opposition from the left wing of the party, which views the university's crackdown as an abuse of power.
Acker is running for re-election against Amir Makled, a Dearborn-based defense attorney who represented some of the students prosecuted under Acker's campaign. Makled has won backing from graduate unions and the United Auto Workers. Acker, meanwhile, has secured endorsements from Governor Gretchen Whitmer, U.S. Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow, and several major unions.
Current regent Paul Brown also seeks one of the two available seats. Both Acker and Brown's terms expire January 1.
The messages depict explicit sexual talk about the strategist, describing her in graphic terms. One message quotes someone saying a friend had sex with her "on election night 2018," calling it "the most insane experience of his life." In another, the strategist is labeled "an absolute freak in bed."
More disturbing is a second set of messages appearing to show Acker discussing a U-M student's medical history. The message refers to her father using what appears to be a slur for Jewish people, then mockingly chronicles her health issues before adding a photo of the daughter and her friends with a crude comment about her sexual activity.
McMorrow, who in 2020 filed a sexual harassment complaint against a state legislator and who delivered an emotional 2013 speech about surviving sexual assault in college, released a statement saying the messages "are disgusting" if authentic. Her office declined to say whether the revelations would affect her endorsement. Whitmer and the Michigan Education Association, another union backer, did not respond to requests for comment.
Makled told the Guardian the messages are "reprehensible, if they are true," and expressed frustration that they come as he faces criticism for his own social media activity. Last week, Seiu withdrew its endorsement after discovering Makled had retweeted posts lamenting the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and another from Candace Owens calling Israelis "demons" over attacks on Palestinian Christians. Makled said the allegations against him are false.
The regents race has become a proxy battle in the broader national culture war over campus speech and Israel. Acker's tenure has included orchestrating prosecutions later dropped after media scrutiny and leading the university to dismantle its diversity, equity and inclusion programs under pressure from Donald Trump. His crackdown on student protesters galvanized the progressive wing of the Democratic party, making Makled's challenge a genuine threat to establishment power.
Delegates are expected to count votes and make their endorsements public on Sunday evening.
Author James Rodriguez: "The guardians of institutional power rarely expect their own past conduct to find daylight at the moment it matters most, but Acker's case shows that calculation can collapse overnight."
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