By Will Drabold
|
Sep. 5, 2014
In the wake of fiery discussion at the Student Senate meeting held in Walter Hall on Wednesday evening, pro-Israel groups at Ohio University are calling for President Megan Marzec’s resignation.In an interview with The Post on Thursday evening, right before press time, Marzec said she’s received “overflowing” amounts of hate mail and death threats related to the video she posted this week in which she poured “blood” on herself in protest of OU’s study abroad program in Tel Aviv, among other academic and cultural relationships.The video was in response to OU President Roderick McDavis challenging her to complete the ALS Ice Bucket challenge. “People calling for my resignation are opposed to freedom of speech,” Marzec said. “I made the video to draw attention to an issue I am very passionate about.”Marzec said several OU faculty members; OU Student Union; the national chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine; the national boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement; have expressed their support for her stance.The BDS movement started in 2005 as a call from Palestinians to cut all ties with Israel until “international law and Palestinian rights” are met, according to BDSmovement.net.Other university organizations on campus, including Bobcats for Israel, a club promoting Israel Advocacy on OU’s campus and Alpha Epsilon Pi, have said her actions don’t speak for the OU community. The Post was unable to contact both organizations after speaking with Marzec. News of Marzec’s action has gone viral, soliciting international opinions.“We need to educate Ohio University Students on what is actually going on in Israel,” said Becky Sebo, president of Bobcats for Israel,. Sebo is the sister of David Sebo, The Post’s assistant design editor. “The BDS movement is an anti-Semitic movement that really calls for the destruction of Israel.”Marzec said her stance was not anti-Semitic.“I have apologized for anyone that felt I was speaking for them,” Marzec said. “But I will never apologize for standing with the oppressed people of Palestine.”Jonah Yulish, the rush chair of Alpha Epsilon Pi, echoed Sebo’s sentiments and agreed Megan should step down.“Regardless of the platform they ran on, that’s how being a president works,” Yulish said.Yulish also said that he met Marzec after watching the video.“I literally got up from class and left for her office,” Yulish said, adding that the meeting ended with hostility.Marzec said she doesn’t recall any hostility.On Thursday night, members of Bobcats for Israel met with Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones and Vice President for Student Affairs Ryan Lombardi. Hall-Jones and Lombardi invited the group to “reassure students of their safety at OU,” Sebo said.Lombardi was not available for comment as of press time.Earlier in the day, McDavis issued a campus-wide statement saying he does not echo Marzec’s views, adding that “the manner in which we conduct ourselves … is of utmost importance.”Sebo clarified that it is not Marzec’s beliefs that led Bobcats for Israel, as well as the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi, to call for her resignation, but that it was the manner in which she identified herself as Student Senate President while stating her personal beliefs.Marzec has shut down her Facebook account and made her Twitter private.@WillDrabolddd195710@ohio.eduAlisa Warren contributed to this report.
