Michigan's Ono blocks two student resolution votes, including one blaming Israel for 'genocide'
Michigan President Santa Ono has prohibited the student government from voting on two resolutions concerning the Israel-Hamas war, which he called 'controversial and divisive.'
One of the resolutions explicitly referred to Israel’s actions in the past several months as constituting 'genocide' and accused the Jewish state of performing 'settler colonialism.'
Santa Ono, the president of the University of Michigan, has prohibited the student government from voting on two resolutions concerning the Israel-Hamas war, referring to the proposals as “controversial and divisive.”
One of the resolutions explicitly referred to Israel’s actions in the past several months as constituting “genocide” and accused the Jewish state of performing “settler colonialism.” The other resolution called upon the university to “offer additional mental health resources for the communities most closely impacted.”
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In a Dec. 5 statement, Ono said: “The proposed resolutions have done more to stoke fear, anger, and animosity on our campus than they would ever accomplish as recommendations to the university.”
“The proposals have generated an involuntary and unwarranted amount of outside negative attention on a community whose primary objective is to learn, to teach, to research and to serve,” he continued. “It needs to stop.”
As noted by Fox News, seven out of eight members of the university board of regents have backed Ono’s statement.
Resolution AR 13-025, which is officially entitled “University Accountability in the Face of Genocide,” would specifically request that Michigan acknowledge the “millions of people undergoing genocide in Gaza as we speak.”
It also states that the university should “correct its alienation of its students and Palestinians suffering the brunt of war crimes and genocide, and that by doing so, the University of Michigan may set a precedent for other powerful institutions across the world to follow.”
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As Campus Reform has previously reported, Michigan officials were also concerned about the election integrity of these two resolutions due to possible interference from pro-Palestine students.
According to a message on Dec. 1 by Timothy Lynch, Michigan’s vice president and general counsel, an unauthorized email was sent to the “entire undergraduate student body” shortly before the resolution votes. The email, which Lynch referred to as “extraordinary” and “unprecedented,” called on students to “VOTE YES ON AR 13-25” — the resolution that accuses Israel of genocide.
Campus Reform has contacted the University of Michigan and the Michigan Central Student Government for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
