Letter: OU Senate President Megan Marzec should avoid expressing self-interest as Student Senate president.
Recently, Ohio University Student Senate President Megan Marzec released a video circulating around social media. She was challenged by OU President Roderick McDavis in doing the viral ice bucket challenge in support for ALS research.
Upon watching the video, I was expecting another video of a person getting water dumped themselves and freezing themselves in support of raising research funds for the disease.
However, I was shocked to see Marzec’s video asking McDavis to stop OU’s connections with Israel (business and academic). Marzec then proceeded to dump something that looked like water colored to look like blood on herself, symbolizing bloodshed. Her shirt read: OU Divest from Israel.
A question registered in my head: “If you are a leader of the student body, are you not the voice for all students?”
As a representative of the student body, the individual is the representation of the student body’s voice. Yet, the video has alienated students with ties to Israel. What about those students who have grown up in Jewish faith and their creed’s strength? What about students who are a part of Hillel? Or part of Alpha Epsilon Pi, the Jewish fraternity on our campus? Are those students’ ties to Israel the ones the university should divest and turn their backs on because of the conflicts occurring in the Middle East? Why ask the university to divest in educational opportunities for students who want to learn more about Israel? What about our Israeli students? The very idea of taking students’ rights away from learning in Israel goes against what Marzec stood for when she ran for senate last semester: right to an education and representing all students.
I have no personal ties to Israel, except by listening to my friends sharing stories of their own trips to the country, and how lives were affected by the conflict. I have heard stories from both sides of the conflict growing in Israel and Palestine. Rather than facing each other, there are sides taken.
This is an opportunity for us, as students and faculty, to discuss the conflicts in the Middle East as Bobcats. What can OU do to help inform students of the situations brewing in countries that mean something to them? How can OU foster a message respecting all ideas and beliefs when the student president has asked for the school to cut ties from those opportunities? Education and opportunities to learn are what combat ignorance, and asking to divest takes away those chances to learn, regardless if you side with Israel or Palestine or take no stance.
In any case of violence, shouldn’t any loss of human life be considered a loss? One life is not considered more valuable than another. The conversation Marzec should be having with the student body is how we can talk to each other, as students, during these times of conflict, regardless of what personal opinions we may have, rather than causing divisions in the student body or in the school. Even if we see things differently, isn’t it worth listening to those you may be asking to keep silent?
Hannah Yang is a senior studying journalism, Editor-in-Chief of Fangle Magazine and a former Post reporter.
