Editor’s Note: This story incorrectly stated the format of the next ASOSU Senate meeting. The meeting’s idea for a format of a 30 minute allotment of gallery comments was not voted on officially and will not proceed in the next meeting. The first version of this story misspelled Matteo Paola’s last name and has been corrected. A caption for a photo in this story has been updated reflect that an attendee of the meeting was not a student.
The Associated Students of Oregon State University Senate postponed voting on Senate Resolution 83.09 yesterday due to lengthy forum discussion and presentation of new information.
The Resolution calls on the OSU administration to divest from companies that support Israel financially.
The gallery forum lasted four hours and featured pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli students who voiced their opinions to the ASOSU Senate. The main room eventually reached capacity, so many attendees had to watch the discussion through Zoom in the overflow room.
“(The) resolution was effectively rushed through in somewhat of an underhanded way. At least that’s how it is perceived by us,” Sam Groben, a speaker in the gallery, said. “Again, I don’t want you to attribute all this to malice. You’ve clarified it was not malicious. As the saying goes, if it’s not malicious, it’s incompetence.”
Last week’s vote was also held during a speech from a holocaust survivor, and just two days after holocaust remembrance day, so many students who feel passionately about the divestment felt excluded.
However, there were also comments complimenting ASOSU for their decision to pass the resolution last week before it was later voided. Students expressed their desire for peace and a ceasefire, and not wanting their money to go to corporations that support what they consider a genocide.
“This resolution says nothing about Hamas, says nothing about Judaism, says nothing about hostages held in Gaza or the thousands of hostages held in Israel.” Matteo Paola, a speaker from the gallery, said. “It speaks only on the call that’s being made across the country for universities to divest from corporations engaged in funding or benefiting from a genocide being perpetrated against people being held in an open air prison who have no way to escape the violence.”
The meeting ended with the Senate deciding to postpone until next week to let themselves reflect on the situation. Many members felt as though they could not come to a decision at the moment, due to the new information presented.
“I don’t believe that we should vote on this tonight,” Noa Stoll, President Pro Tempore of the ASOSU Senate, said. “Because of the sheer amount of information and testimony that we just got and especially if we’re trying to vote 20 minutes before we have to be out of the building.”
For the next ASOSU Senate meeting, Senator Audrey Porter suggested that gallery comments be allotted 30 minutes total, with just two minutes per speaker, to ensure that more voices are heard before making a decision. However, this was a just a suggestion not voted on officially by the ASOSU Senate.
The Senate reminded everyone that they have office hours, which can be found on their website, and are more than happy to hear students’ concerns during those times.
