THE STUDENT SENATE OF
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE

60th Legislative Assembly, 2nd Session

S.R.  60.2-14

A RESOLUTION FOR THE STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION TO RECOGNIZE ISRAEL’S ACTIONS IN GAZA AS CONSTITUTING A GENOCIDE AND CALL FOR THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES’ DIVESTMENT AND TRANSPARENCY IN ALL FINANCIAL MATTERS WHICH PERTAIN TO THE STATE OF ISRAEL

Short Title:         A Resolution for the SGA to Recognize Israel’s Actions in Gaza

Primary Sponsor(s):        Sujana Islam, Vice Chair of the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

        Committee

Secondary Sponsor(s):  Taylor Beckett, Cato College of Education Senator

        Alvin Cui, Upperclassman Senator At-Large

        Justice Mascorro, Upperclassman Senator At-Large

        Sasha Sembur, Chief of Staff

First Reading:        

Second Reading:         

Referred To:         

Committee Report:        

Passage:        

Enacted:

Whereas, the International Court of Justice ruled on the 26th of January, 2024 that the State of Israel’s actions in Gaza indicate that the conditions required within the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide–the signatory parties of which include the State of Israel (the defendant in the case) and the Republic of South Africa (the prosecutor in the case)--have been met to call for the prevention of genocide in Gaza,

Whereas, the United States of America is an additional signatory party to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the University of North Carolina in Charlotte is a public university within the United States of America,

Whereas, North Carolina Senate Law 2023-102 requires that each constituent institution of the University of North Carolina “shall remain neutral, as an institution, on the political controversies of the day,”

Whereas, a petition has been created by the Charlotte Revolutionary Student Front and Social Justice for Social Justice in South West Asia, and North Africa and has been endorsed by the Arabic Cultural Club, the Arabic Student Organization, Carolina’s Social Justice for Palestine, Charlotte Speech, the Charlotte Anthropology Legion, Club de Español Para Amigos, the Earth Club, the Muslim Student Association, the Palestinian Cultural Organization, PRISM, the Organization of African Students, and the UNCC Young Democratic Socialists of America demanding measures of divestment and transparency concerning the University’s support for the State of Israel to be enacted by the Student Senate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and its over four hundred and thirty signatures at the time of the drafting of this resolution prove that the political question of support for the State of Israel’s Genocide, as declared by the International Court of Justice, is in fact “a political controversy of the day,”

Whereas, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s license to dig within the city of Jerusalem required the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to directly fund money to the State of Israel, and the State of Israel uses the money within its state apparatus to persist in what the International Court of Justice has declared a genocide,

It is evident that in blatant violation of humanitarian international law, in blatant violation of the politically controversial wishes of much of the student body, and in blatant violation of the law of the State of North Carolina, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte has continued to financially support the State of Israel’s genocidal regime and thus enabled its capacity to commit genocide within the region of Gaza.

Therefore, be it resolved by the Student Senate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, as follows:

As a bare minimum to right the legal and moral wrongs the University of North Carolina at Charlotte has committed against the Palestinian people and by proxy forced its attendants to commit against the Palestinian people, the Student Government Association will approve the articles of the aforementioned petition, signed by over four hundred and eighty students, faculty, and staff on Charlotte’s Campus in full:

  1. “The SGA will officially recognize the genocide being committed by the State of Israel with western backing in Gaza as just that: a genocide.
  2. The SGA will call for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s total divestment of funds from the State of Israel until at least the time in which the State of Israel arranges a ceasefire in Gaza and there are proper measures in place to hold the State of Israel and other party actors accountable for their role in the Palestinian genocide.
  3. The SGA will condemn the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s prior investments into the State of Israel, such as those in the Mount Zion Archaeological Project including its licensing from the Israel Antiquities Authority, and acknowledge these investment’s contribution to the displacement and genocide of the people of Gaza.
  4. The SGA will call for complete and total transparency from the Board of Trustees concerning their prior and existing investments into the State of Israel.”

And the SGA will take all necessary measures to ensure the execution of these articles in a quick and timely fashion.

Mandates:

Dr. Sharon Gaber, UNC Charlotte Chancellor

Dr. Kevin Bailey, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

Larry Gourdine, Interim Dean of Students

Karen Shaffer, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

Adam Burden, Advisor to the Senate and Director of Student Involvement

Betiel Berhe, Chair of the Publicity and Outreach Committee

Sunnya Hadavi, Niner Times

Tife Olusesi, Student Body President

Simone Tezzo, Student Body Webmaster

Matthew Kingsley, Student Government Clerk

Dennis N. Bunker II, Chair of the UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees

Estefany Gordillo-Rivas, President of the UNC Association of Student Governments

Dr. Shimon Gibson, Director of UNCC Excavation on the Mount Zion Archaeological Project

I, Isaiah Grayson, hereby certify that this legislation was considered and adopted by the Student Senate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in accordance with the Constitution of the Student Body and the By-Laws of the Student Senate on this __ day of _________________, 2024.

___________________________________

Isaiah Grayson

Student Body Vice President

I, Tife Olusesi, hereby signify my approval of this legislation as adopted by the Student Senate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, this __ day of _________________, 2024.

___________________________________

Tife Olusesi

Student Body President

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE