Students pitch petition

Members of the Boston University Students for Israel solicited signatures for a pro-Israel petition at last night’s weekly Student Union Senate meeting, continuing the group’s month-long effort to get signatures for the petition.

Though Union Vice President of Safety Services Ramie Ferreira said support of the petition is important, the Union could not endorse the petition as a group because it did not relate to a BU event or cause, according to Tribunal member John Underwood. Individual senators were allowed to sign the document.

The petition states that Boston University students support Israel for numerous reasons, including recognizing it ‘as a sovereign state with a fundamental obligation to protect its citizens.’ The petition also includes reference to the ability to vote regardless of sex or religion and Israel’s ‘desire to live in peace with her Arab neighbors.’

Both Ferreira and VP of Student Affairs Carl Woog cited other colleges and universities at which they knew of similar petitions, including Yale University and the University of Arizona.

BUSI treasurer Jackie Belkin came to last night’s Senate meeting to ask for support of the petition, which she said would eventually be handed to every United States congressman.

‘[By] being a member of the Student Union, you should stand in solidarity with Israel,’ Belkin said at the meeting.

She cited examples of how Israel believes in many of the same basic freedoms as the United States.

‘Israel promotes equality of women,’ she said.

Belkin said the idea behind the petition is that Congress should support a country that gives its citizens the same freedoms citizens of the United States receive.

‘It’s a statement of solidarity with Israel,’ said Rachel Glazer, vice-president of the group. ‘[It’s] restating the common interests that the U.S. and Israel share.’

For students who say the United States already supports Israel, Belkin responded by saying ‘that is sort of irrelevant it goes toward continuation of support.’

More than 800 students have already signed the petition, according to Belkin. She said she hopes there will be over 1,000 signatures by the end of the semester, though she said they have no date in which they will stop collecting signatures and they will go as long as they can.

‘We are pretty confident that more people will sign it by the end of the semester,’ Belkin said.

The group has asked not only the Student Union for support, but also the Inter-Fraternity Sorority Council and plans to go to individual student groups in the future according to Belkin.

VICE-CHAIR CANDIDATES NOMINATED Senators also nominated three candidates to fill the newly vacated vice-chair seat last night, after the seat became available Sunday night when former Vice-Chair Laura Hanson resigned.

Senators Marietta McEvilly, Lisa Bassett and Mike McLaughlin were all nominated at the meeting. All three senators were previously aware that they would be nominated.

McLaughlin, a Hyatt senator whose position will be dissolved next semester, said his interest in becoming Senate Vice-Chairperson was not directly related to the removal of his seat in the Senate.

‘I already had the intention of trying to find some way to stay involved,’ said McLaughlin. ‘Hanson’s resignation was the ultimate advantage to get into a position to do so.’

All three senators said they had expressed interest in running for the position next year, but spoke about very different motivations for their current interest.

‘I think it would be a unique experience to be part of the e-board and part of the Senate,’ McLaughlin said. ‘Moving up to an e-board position would be a fresh new perspective.’

McEvilly, a sophomore in the University Professors program, ran for the position last year and said she feels she can utilize her position to ‘make the Senate more visible and bridge the gap between the Senators and the e-board.’

‘I’ve thought about it a lot,’ she said, ‘and I fully understand the time commitment and responsibility.’

Basset said her motivations rested mostly on the fact that she ‘wanted to be more involved with the Senate’ and that a position as Senate vice-chair would be ‘a great preliminary experience.’

‘I’m always looking to gain new experience,’ she said.

Senate chairman Joel Fajardo said the position is open to the public, and all remaining candidates for the position must be nominated by a senator at next week’s Senate meeting. Each nominee will prepare a five-minute speech to present to the Senate at next week’s meeting.