Photo courtesy of usfstudentgov_ on Instagram
By Riley Benson, Alisha Durosier & The Crow’s Nest Staff
On April 9, the USF Student Government (SG) president, Cesar Esmeraldi, posted a video on the official USF SG Instagram page and his own page titled “Why I urge out senators to vote against the ‘USF Divest Resolution’ today.”
In the video, Esmeraldi expressed his own views against the upcoming “Divest from Israel Resolution” that was voted on by SG senators later that night.
This resolution was brought forth by philosophy student, Alina Atiq, and the by the 17 pro-Palestine student hunger strikers at the Tampa campus, as a form of protest against the war in Gaza. Their main demand is for USF to divest from corporations Hewlett Packard (HP), Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Gruman and Caterpillar, as they supply weapons, machinery and technology to Israel.
“The intent of this resolution is to call on USF administration to make their investments public and divest from companies involved in the ongoing assault on Palestine,” the resolution states.
The hunger strike went on for 17 days, and the group has since drafted the “Divest from Israel Resolution” to be voted on by SG, in hopes that it would make the university administration divest and make their investment portfolio public.
In the video, Esermaldi said, “We recently had a group of students draft a resolution that is unreasonable, fails to be truthful and does not represent the whole student body. The resolution is clearly one-sided and does not reflect the apolitical stance of USF.”
Esmeraldi went on to say that he “did hear from some senators, within Student Government, that they understood that such resolution is not realistic. That they did not believe that it was even lawful or that it represents the student body. But they were inclined to vote yes, because a Student Government senate resolution is non-binding.”
Esmeraldi does not mention any of his sources from within Student Government by name, nor does he clarify if the video was his own personal opinions, or if they align with the rest of Tampa’s SG.
Both the USF St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee SG Instagram pages replied to the post, commenting they “were not consulted regarding the material of this content” and that the “video does not represent the views and beliefs” of the campuses.
Alexis Hobbs, SG senator at USF St. Petersburg, who voted on the resolution, commented saying “You do not represent the beliefs of senate and you cannot intimidate us into voting the way you want.”
Erin Turney, the SG campus Council chair at USF St. Petersburg, also replied to the video stating, “This is a clear use of your privileged position to express your personal opinion. I find it disheartening that the opinions of one individual are being passed as the views of Student Government. Opinions and urgencies like this should never be permitted on official USF pages.”
This is a similar sentiment to many commenters, questioning why Esmeraldi’s personal opinion on the resolution was allowed to be posted on the official public page.
Shortly after the release of the video, Jewish student organizations, USF Hillel, Chabad at USF and Alpha Epsilon Pi – Psi Phi Chapter, released a joint statement on Instagram, against the resolution.
“The actions of putting forth this resolution pose a direct threat not only to the Jewish and Israeli members of the USF community, but also to the principles of diversity and inclusion that USF claims to promote,” the statement said.
They went on to write that they “recommend USF’s administration and Student Government unequivocally condemn and reject the proposed resolution by Alina Atiq and USF Hunger Strike due to it’s deeply antisemitic nature, and it’s false and misleading material.”
Ayisha Necholi, a Tampa SG senator, along with Sisters United Muslim Association, Students for Socialism, Students for Justice in Palestine and Students Protecting the Environment and Animals, sponsored the resolution.
Atiq presented the resolution on behalf of the USF Divest Coalition, formally known as the USF Hunger Strikers.
The non-binding resolution passed with a 16-15 vote. Senate president Fariah Ansari’s vote, which was in favor of the resolution, was the tie-breaker.
Atiq first addressed concerns regarding the legality of the resolution. According to HB 3, a bill concerning “government and corporate activism, investments of certain state and local funds” must be based “solely on pecuniary factors.”
Pecuniary factors is a term that refers to factors that are economic or financial, and does not consider “any social, political, or ideological interests.”
Due to the negative publicity the five corporations have gained in response to the war in Gaza, Atiq argues that their profitability can also be impacted. “I maintain that possible sanctions directed at these companies due to their involvement would be costly thus affecting USF’s investment portfolio negatively,” Atiq said.
There is no substantial evidence that USF invests in these companies. USF’s investment portfolio is currently private and the named companies that USF is being asked to divest from are assumed investments.
Following Atiq’s presentation, the senate heard from the opposition of the resolution, which included members of USF Hillel, Chabad and the fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi.
“The Student Government wasn’t designed to weigh in on international issues and I want you all to remember that … as a member of the student body I whole heartedly think the entire premise of this resolution has nothing to do with USF,” political science freshman and Alpha Epsilon Pi member Noah Wayne said.
For the question-and-answer portion of the meeting, senators and meeting attendees were allotted 90 seconds of speaking time to ask the presenters and opposition of the resolution questions. Following the
The opposition stated that the resolution would “greenlight harmful behavior and discriminatory towards the Jewish community at USF.”
“We would be more than willing to sit down and discuss with the opposing side, however, I think both sides would need to come to an agreement on something to be resolved and I think that’s something that has to come from both sides and that’s a bridge that has to be built from two ways,” an opposing student said.
Sophomore economics major, Will Mleczcko said that the USF Divest Coalition reached out to many on-campus organizations, but only received a response from USF Hillel stating that they were unwilling to speak with them about the resolution.
A period of discussion followed, where senators made comments on the resolution and their reasoning behind their vote.
“I truly believe that this resolution is solely on the basis of the war in Gaza and the entities that are supplying. I don’t think that that’s an issue to call that out and make their voices heard on that,” junior senator Jackson Jones said.
