The accusations that Megan Marzec was out of line by calling on Ohio University to break ties with Israel over its war crimes against Palestinians is ridiculous. What do students want from a leader? Someone who is unengaged? Someone who will ignore oppressive forces on our campus and in the world? On the contrary, we have a student body president who is unafraid to stand up for students on campus who are the most oppressed, such as Palestinians.
The accusations that Megan Marzec was out of line by calling on Ohio University to break ties with Israel over its war crimes against Palestinians is ridiculous. What do students want from a leader? Someone who is unengaged? Someone who will ignore oppressive forces on our campus and in the world? On the contrary, we have a student body president who is unafraid to stand up for students on campus who are the most oppressed, such as Palestinians.
At last week's Student Senate meeting, there was not a single member who made any attempt to intimidate pro-Israel students, despite the blatantly untrue letter making such allegations. Currently, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not something we have discussed or intend to hold a political stance on. Megan is her own human being, with her own values. On the other hand, despite the general civility of the conversation, I witnessed a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi make the racist statement that “Israel is a developed nation, unlike the rest of the Middle East.” I witnessed members of the Jewish community who called for harmony and civility get shouted down by pro-Israel students. Megan was personally attacked repeatedly. Unfortunately, many of the events were not reported on.
If The Post was genuinely concerned about the civility of dialogue on this campus, it is confusing why the intimidating tactics of pro-Israel students were not reported on. Megan is now receiving a multitude of vicious personal attacks, she has been threatened, and people are attempting to bully her into submission. She should not give in to these individuals. I, for one, will continue to stand with Megan in her continuous efforts to fight for social justice on this campus and in the wider world.
Charlotte Bassam-Bowles is a graduate student at Ohio University and the commissioner of University Life.
