A federal grand jury subpoena demands the full membership list, meeting notes and financial records of the University of Michigan's Graduate Employees' Organization (GEO).

GEO received the subpoena via hand delivery Aug. 26, after an earlier attempt to serve it by FedEx on Aug. 11 failed to meet legal requirements, The Michigan Daily reported Wednesday, Sept. 9. It was prepared by Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutor Maggie Smith and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agent Kara Phipps. Both are connected to the DOJ's June indictment of eight pro-Palestine activists affiliated with U-M.

The records demanded include a list of current and former GEO members, executive board and membership meeting notes, staff personnel records and financial records dating to January 2023.

GEO retained attorneys and filed a motion to quash the subpoena on Aug. 20, arguing the FedEx attempt did not meet legal requirements. The federal government then served the subpoena by hand delivery on Aug. 26.

GEO communications chair Natalie Chen, a Rackham graduate student, told the Daily the subpoena was signed the same day a judge dismissed charges the University had brought against GEO President Hiab Teshome. GEO had called those charges, over alleged misuse of student-organization funds, politically motivated in an Aug. 14 statement.

"What they're trying to do is to disorganize us, to discourage us from speaking out about Palestine and from demanding a contract," Chen told the Daily.

GEO disclosed the subpoena in a public statement Wednesday, Sept. 9, nearly a month after receiving it. The union said it views the subpoena and the underlying criminal case as attempts to suppress student activism. GEO alleges U-M helped bring that about.

The DOJ unsealed the indictment of the eight activists on June 10. The 63-page filing, lodged in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, alleged the defendants conspired to transmit threats to university officials, law enforcement and businesses as part of a campaign to push U-M to divest from Israel. The defendants named are Paige Feyock, Amatullah Hakim, Zainab Hakim, Ahmet Korkaya, Miriam Odeh, Alexander Sepulveda, Colin Weger and Jonathan Zou.

U-M declined to comment on the subpoena, the Daily reported.

The status of GEO's motion to quash was not publicly available as of Wednesday, Sept. 9.