By Acsah Lemma
Long Beach State’s Associated Students Incorporated Senate (ASI) passed a ceasefire resolution bill at its May 8 Academic Senate meeting.
The bill titled “Calling for Ceasefire in Gaza Strip, Condemning Human Rights Violations, and Reaffirming Students’ Freedom of Expression,” was sponsored by Executive Vice President Teresa Falcon.
According to an unofficial version of the document, it was first submitted on April 5 and is now approved over a month later.
The bill was the third legislative business item on the agenda for the meeting and approved with no objections, 15-0-1 with one abstain.
The ceasefire resolution bill states that, “CSSA calls for an immediate bilateral ceasefire and safe return of all the hostages and unduly imprisoned civilians from Palestine and Israel and let it be, and be it further.”
05/08/24 CSULB: The College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Senator Richie Pham approved the ceasefire resolution bill and was seconded by Matt Melendrez, one of the six senators-at-large and upcoming executive vice-president for the ASI senate.
Additionally, the ASI Board of Directors called for “the University protect the first amendment right for peaceful free speech without strict and unlawful enforcement of the Time and Place policy for anyone participating in protests, encampments, and public demonstrations; and be it further.”
The Board of Directors also urges university administration to “require a trained first aid professional to be on site for any future protests to ensure the safety of all students; and be it further.”
A non-legislative business item also approved by the ASI Board of Directors was the agreement to sign a letter expressing solidarity with students at Barnard College and Columbia University.
This action item, approved with no objections, 16-0-1 with one abstain, would mean that CSULB’s ASI will be added to a growing list of colleges and universities’ student governments that condemn the militaristic police response against student protestors nationwide.
The colleges and universities on the list include the student governments of UC Berkeley, Pomona College and New York University.
The letter states that the signed parties will “[…] uphold all students’ rights for self-advocacy, peaceful protest, academic freedom, free speech, and physical and emotional safety within their campuses.”
By signing the letter, CSULB’s ASI pledges to “[…] stand with the students of each of our colleges to exercise their rights to peaceful advocacy.”
The letter concludes by committing to holding administrations accountable for their actions so that no actions by Barnard, Columbia or any other college administration across the United States go unaccounted for.
