Several Ohio University alumni are demanding the resignation of Student Senate President Megan Marzec.
Several Ohio University alumni are demanding the resignation of Student Senate President Megan Marzec because of her ‘blood’ bucket challenge video through an online petition.
Morgan Blumenfeld, a 2014 Ohio University graduate and former student president at Hillel, created the petition hosted on Change.org.
The petition aims to support current OU students in their request to remove Marzec from her position as Student Senate president, and has more than 600 signatures.
Blumenfeld said her goal is to have 1,000 signatures before the Student Senate meeting, Wednesday.
“When I saw what the students were currently doing to request for Megan’s resignation, I knew that I would definitely have been involved in their efforts if I was on campus,” Blumenfeld said. “I figured there was no reason why my voice as an alumni, as well as others who are opinionated on this topic, couldn’t have been expressed for our concerns for the university.”
Blumenfeld said the topic of the petition is not to argue Marzec’s stance to have OU cut all ties with Israel over the conflicts in Palestine expressed in her video, but for the way she “presented them on behalf of Ohio University.”
The petition states that OU should remain “a safe community for ALL its students, faculty and surrounding community members.”
Another petition has also circulated online expressing “solidarity with Megan Marzec's right of free speech to publicly state her political opinions on the liberation of Palestine.”
Some members of OU faculty signed an open letter declaring support for Marzec’s right to voice her opinions.
The letter signed by 46 faculty members argues that “Marzec’s challenge does not undermine ‘civility,’ but rather raises awareness of a topic of great current and historical importance to the United States, the Middle East, and the world as a whole.”
Professor of Contemporary History Kevin Mattson signed the letter in support of Marzec and spoke to The Post Wednesday about the letter.
“I think it’s strange that people accused her of setting up an uncomfortable climate on campus and the notion that this was some kind of an ‘anti-Semitic’ statement because when you think about who suffered the most from this act, it’s been her,” Mattson said. “She’s the one who’s getting the violent death threats.”
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