The student government at the University of Maryland, College Park, voted 25-1 earlier this week to call upon the public school to “formally and publicly acknowledge the ongoing situation in Gaza as a genocide” and to “issue a public statement urging for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.”
The resolution also stated that the public school ought to “establish and fund comprehensive support programs for Palestinian students and scholars affected by the ongoing violence.”
Meirav Solomon, a junior at the school and a former legislator for the student government, told JNS that the resolution is “disrespectful” and that “a lot of people are hurt.”
“A lot of people also just feel unsafe, because they feel that Student Government Association is supposed to represent the entire student body, and they made this big statement,” she said.
“Now we feel like we’re not seen, and we’re not being taken care of,” Solomon, who is involved in the Jewish Student Union and Kedma, an Orthodox student group, told JNS. “It’s kind of a scary thing.”
Uriel Appel, a senior at the university and president and founder of its Students Supporting Israel chapter, told JNS that Justice UMD, a party that “represents more of the socialist activist students on campus and primarily groups like Students for Justice in Palestine,” controls the student government.
“We’re just not fighting it. There’s no point in embarrassing ourselves,” he said. “We’re choosing to direct our energy and our efforts in a different direction.”
Those efforts include “delegitimizing” the student government, Appel said. “If nobody cares what they say, what does it matter that they condemned us?”
Appel hopes more Jewish students run for student government, and “a lot of students have voiced their desire to run as a candidate this coming year.”
Katie Lawson, chief communications officer at the university, told JNS that “resolutions voted on by the Student Government Association are student-led and reflect perspectives of voting members of the SGA.”
“They have no bearing on university policy or practice,” she said.
Solomon said the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter is also trying to pass a resolution boycotting Israel for the fourth time in two years.
“We’re students, and we’re here to go to school and get an education like everyone else,” she said. “It’s not fair that this is happening again.”
