Rice student govt passes referendums calling for divestment and support for 'anti-colonial scholarship'
Rice University’s Student Association recently passed a series of referendums that call on the school to take a stronger stance against Israel.
These referendums include calls for divestment from Israel, and a statement from the administration that condemns the 'genocide' that is 'perpetrated by the U.S.-Israel colonial war machine.'
Rice University’s Student Association recently passed a series of referendums that call on the school to take a stronger stance against Israel, and will later be voted upon by the general student body.
These Oct. 28 referendums include calls for disclosure of the school’s financial positions, divestment from Israel, and a statement from the administration that condemns the “genocide” that is “perpetrated by the U.S.-Israel colonial war machine.”
Another of the referendums is also said to ask “the university for a commitment to materially support anti-colonial scholarship, particularly Palestinian scholarship,” according to The Rice Thresher.
Junior Arman Saxena, who wrote the referendums, explained that the decision to put a divestment resolution to a university-wide vote rather than simply passing it directly via a Student Association vote was based on a desire to protect the representative nature of the body’s responsibilities.
“Many voting members may not feel comfortable voting on behalf of the entire student body because they want to be representatives of their constituents,” Saxena told The Rice Thresher. “This referenda process allows the student body itself to decide what they want to see from administration.”
The referendums must earn support from at least two-thirds of students who vote on them in order to be further considered by school administrators, according to the outlet.
Four different pro-Israel students also spoke during the Student Association’s meeting, including senior Giovanni Marinilli, who criticized the referendums’ apparent political biases.
“This is a complex conflict,” Marinilli said. “We cannot let our anger ... let us forget that [these referenda are] one-sided and only acknowledge the pain of one side of this conflict.”
Senior Matti Haacke, a member of the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, delivered a speech to the Student Association, urging representatives to support implementing the referendums. She claimed that Rice’s administrators have “failed” to fulfill their responsibilities to the student body.
“Students at Rice and across the country have learned from leading scholars that colonial systems continue to oppress people worldwide, and they seek a move towards a more just and peaceful future,” Haacke said. “I urge you to honor the integrity of this impulse and use your own position not to silence and suppress the movement, but to give each student at Rice the opportunity to make themselves heard, even as the administrators have failed them.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Rice University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.