Congressman praises UNCC administration’s rebuff of anti-Israel student resolution

The student government at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte campus, passed a resolution on March 28 that accuses Israel of genocide and calls on the school to divest from Israel.

The university administration has since denounced that decision and said that it counseled Student Government Association leaders “several times on the university’s commitment to maintain institutional neutrality and encouraged to consider that in their requests of administrators.”

“This SGA resolution does not align with that commitment and will not be acted upon by the administration,” the university leaders stated. They added that student government plays “an important role” in university life, but its leaders “neither speak for nor represent the position of UNC Charlotte.”

Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) praised the university’s response.

“As a proud UNC Charlotte graduate and former student body president, the university I know and love is a place of truth, inclusion and diversity of thought,” the congressman stated.

“While it is right for the students to be concerned about the suffering of all civilians, to do so without acknowledging the evil Hamas represents and the fact Hamas’s horrific actions are the reason we are where we are is deeply disappointing,” he said.

“On Oct. 7, we witnessed a barbaric and unprecedented attack on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas terrorists. Since then, countless innocent men, women and children have been kidnapped, tortured, raped and killed by Hamas,” he added. “The current conflict would end immediately if Hamas would release all the hostages and surrender.”

Not only does Israel have “every right” to self-defense against Hamas, but it “has shown great restraint in its actions,” Hudson stated. “It is in the United States’s and the entire world’s best interest that Hamas is eliminated. I stand with Israel.”

The resolution, sponsored by Sujana Islam, vice chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee, said UNCC directly funds Israel through participation in archaeological digs in Jerusalem, “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.”

The resolution also specifically calls the current in Gaza a “genocide” and calls for total divestment from Israel until Israel “arranges a ceasefire in Gaza” and measures are put in place to hold Israel “accountable for their role in the Palestinian genocide.”

From JNS and SJL reports.