"Gag rule aimed at stifling Palestine speech fails to pass at UM-Ann Arbor"
ARAB AMERICAN NEWS (Dearborn, Michigan)
October 6, 2012
English: http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=Community&article=5989
Arabic: http://www.arabamericannews.com/Arabic/index.php?mod=article&cat=%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA&article=12845
ANN ARBOR – A resolution aimed at limiting speakers during a community concerns portion of Student Government meetings failed to pass this past Tuesday night after it did not achieve the two-thirds majority needed to amend the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor's Central Student Government's operating procedures.
The resolution was proposed last week and would have allowed non-students only one opportunity per semester to address CSG in regards to non-agenda items. It had been brought up in response to the ongoing efforts of local activists Blaine Coleman and Mozghan Savabieasfahani, who have consistently spoken at meetings about the need for the university to divest from Israel, which has continued to occupy Palestinian lands while demolishing homes, building settlements, and expanding its territory in violation of international law.
The resolution's final vote tally was 12 to 10 in favor with one person abstaining according to a report from the campus newspaper The Michigan Daily. The activists were flanked by several others, who brought signs in a show of support.
*********************************************
