In the past, we have discussed IU President Michael McRobbie’s decision to withdraw IU from the American Studies Association because of its academic boycott of Israel.
As the president of the University, it is safe to say he speaks for the entire campus, and while not all of us may agree with his decision, he did it through official channels and calmly explained his reasons why.
Some students at other schools were not nearly as tactful.
Megan Marzec, the president of the Ohio University Student Senate, decided to try her own hand at the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and, in something that could have come straight out of a direct-to-DVD horror movie, doused herself in fake blood instead of ice water.
“As student senate president,” Marzec said in the video, “I’m sending a message of student concern about the genocide in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine by the Israeli state.”
In place of nominating other friends to participate in the challenge, her call to action was to endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement.
She then poured the “blood” on herself and then ended with a message of “Free Palestine.”
The video, which has since been taken down, has generated a storm of controversy and broad backpedaling from the OU Student Senate, which is the school’s equivalent of IUSA. “On behalf of the Student Senate, we humbly apologize for the video President Megan Marzec posted,” the group said via Twitter.
We are not saying students should not hold controversial views.
Nor do we believe that all publicity stunts are inappropriate. But we must be careful to avoid putting words in people’s mouths.
Our issue is not necessarily with her message, which is already problematic because of the gross shock value, but in the way that Marzec misrepresented the OU student body.
As Senate president, it can be reasonably assumed that she speaks for the student body as a whole.
But on such a controversial issue, we doubt these extreme views are those of the entire student body.
We all understand that the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts are highly polarized and certainly evoke strong emotions from both sides. But we draw the line at attempting to misrepresent the views of an entire student body in such an obscene and gross way.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is to raise awareness for Lou Gehrig’s Disease, not to misrepresent and advance a radical agenda.
This highly disturbing video is a lesson in how not to present views and how student leaders should not act.
