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The University of Michigan’s Central Student Government met virtually Tuesday night to vote on the reconsideration of F24-001: The Wolverines’ Budget Act and F24-002: Rebuilding Education in Gaza Act. The Assembly also discussed CSG president Alifa Chowdhury’s Instagram post on CSG’s page following the initial passage of F24-001 and failure of F24-002, which has since been deleted, as well as concerns over member safety following disruptions to their Oct. 8 meeting.
The assembly started the meeting by swearing in new members, recalling members who had exceeded maximum unexcused absences and hearing community concerns.
Afterwards, they began discussion on the Wolverines’ Budget Act and the Rebuilding Education in Gaza Act. LSA senior Mario Thaqi, speaker of the Assembly, explained that since the budget was passed at CSG’s last meeting, the executive committee had requested a reconsideration, which is not the same as a veto.
“Just for some clarification, last week we passed F24-001 and failed F24-002,” Thaqi said. “However, it is within the president’s powers to ask us to reconsider our vote within six days. This is different from a veto. A veto requires a two-thirds vote and is the president rejecting a piece of business whereas a reconsideration means the president is asking us to revote. If we get a simple majority on either vote they pass. However, the difference here is that once one of these petitions passes it will go into effect because it cannot ask to be reconsidered again. This will be the last vote on these petitions.”
The Assembly then held a secret ballot vote on the two budget acts. The Wolverines’ Budget Act passed and the Rebuilding Education in Gaza Act failed.
The majority of the rest of the meeting focused on Executive Reports, during which the Assembly discussed their Oct. 8 meeting, which was cut short due to student protestors disrupting the Assembly with chants, as well as a post made on CSG’s Instagram account the following evening.
Many members expressed concerns for their safety. LSA junior Eric Veal, vice speaker, said he had received threats from people on campus and felt unsafe coming to CSG meetings.
“I’ll be very candid, I have received threats about going to class and where I live,” Veal said. “I didn’t come to CSG to be harassed on campus. I don’t feel supported and I don’t feel safe coming to meetings because people are walking around saying they are going to physically harm me or people at the Assembly.”
Following the last meeting, Chowdhury posted on the CSG Instagram account about her frustrations that the Assembly passed the Wolverines’ Budget Act and not the Rebuilding Education in Gaza Act. Many in the Assembly were upset by the post, and much of Tuesday’s meeting was spent addressing these concerns. At the beginning of the Executive Reports segment of the meeting, Chowdhury apologized to the Assembly for the post.
“I want to start by acknowledging that the Instagram incident was unprofessional, and for that I apologize,” said Chowdhury.
Chowdhury said she posted to Instagram following heightened emotions in light of not having passed an initiative to send money to the Rebuilding Hope Initiative.
“CSG can be a place that cares for the world and each other, not just our own careers and resumes,” Chowdhury said. “The morning after the vote I received a message from Professor Alazzeh from Birzeit University asking with hope if our petition to send money to their Rebuilding Gaza Initiative had passed or not, and it was heartbreaking to tell him it had not.”
LSA sophomore Maya Akiva, a member of the Assembly, said she was frustrated with Chowdhury’s actions because she felt Chowdhury had spoken on behalf of CSG without consulting them.
“President Chowdhury, you have been vocal in promoting that we can’t speak for other people,” Akiva said. “You were very clear when people were saying to vote for a resolution and you were quick to condemn that. I want to know where the line was drawn where you decided you could take over Instagram and post a very biased post on behalf of all of us. It was personally embarrassing. I want to know where that boundary extended.”
Chowdhury declined to respond to Akiva’s question, saying she had already answered it.
Chowdhury said in her apology that she has met with several people in an attempt to make amends for the Instagram post and disruptive meeting and move forward. LSA sophomore Margaret Peterman, a member of the Assembly, asked for examples of the steps Chowdhury had taken to make amends.
Chowdhury said she did not want to share specific names.
“These are private conversations and I am going to keep them that way,” Chowdhury said.
The Assembly then voted on nominations of LSA junior Zoe Blackburn for deputy elections commissioner for finance, which passed, and Law School student Noah Rotroff for student general counsel, which failed.
The Assembly also passed AR 14-038, Scholarship Study Task Force, unanimously and AR 14-044, Wolverines Vote Act unanimously. AR 14-038 will create a task force to explore the possibility of creating a scholarship for refugees and conflict-impacted students. The Wolverines Vote Act calls on University President Santa Ono and the University regents to increase voting accessibility and awareness; it also encourages the entire U-M community to vote early.
The meeting concluded with brief introductions of new business, and many introductions were moved to the following meeting for consideration.Daily Staff Reporter Maddyn Shapiro can be reached at maddyns@umich.edu.
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