Tensions are high at Florida International University over a draft resolution introduced in the student Senate demanding the school’s administration condemn Israel over its war against Hamas in Gaza. The university issued a statement Friday assuring students and alumni that the resolution is championed by a small number of students out of the roughly 56,000 people who attend FIU, and that it is not on the student Senate’s agenda. But, the resolution, SR 04 014, has passed one of the two committees needed to bring it before the full Senate, although it’s unlikely, with finals this month, that it will be taken up by the Rules Committee and then on to a final vote before January, said Alexander Sutton, Student Body president.

“Nearly every student in the university has something to say about it,” Sutton, who was elected to his position, but does not vote on resolutions, told the Miami Herald. News of the draft resolution was first reported by PantherNOW, FIU’s student newspaper. The paper detailed a Nov. 27 meeting in the Senate chambers packed with dozens of students demanding that the resolution be placed on the agenda for a vote before this semester ends. “Thousands are under the rubble. How dare you say this isn’t time for this resolution? How dare you criticize this resolution? This does the absolute bare minimum. Recognizing Israel’s war,” FIU student Tara Mahmoud, a member of Students for Justice for Palestine, said at the meeting, according to the PantherNOW story.

Students for Justice for Palestine is a pro-Palestine group that State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues ordered to have disbanded at two state universities in October. It is not an official student group at FIU, according to the PantherNow story.

One of the students who introduced the resolution, Senate President Kaily LaChapelle, did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the document. PantherNOW reported that at the meeting, LaChapelle described receiving death threats over the language in the resolution.

“The words being used are ‘we want to exterminate you like our ancestors.’ And I am not Jewish, I’m not Palestinian, but I am Armenian, and my grandfather is a survivor of the Armenian genocide, so I know what genocide is,” LaChapelle said. Rogelio Tovar, chair of FIU’s Board of Trustees, and university President Kenneth A. Jessell, sent out a statement Friday to students, faculty and staff seeking to put distance between the school and the draft, adding they have “no idea whether it will ever be adopted.”

“Nevertheless, we cannot be silent because, unfortunately, this document has been widely distributed and has caused much pain to many in our community. We note that this draft resolution contains inaccuracies and in no way represents our position as leaders of FIU,” they wrote.

The language in the resolution refers to Israel’s continued retaliation against Hamas in Gaza for the Oct. 7 terror attacks as “ongoing genocide,” and calls on Jessell to acknowledge such “and implicate the Israeli state as the perpetrator.” “[T]he Student Government Association (SGA) will call upon Florida International University (FIU) to release a statement, with input from the authors of this resolution and affected student groups, condemning the human rights violations and collective punishment that the Israeli Defense Forces are committing against Palestinian people,” the draft reads.

Tovar and Jessell wrote in their message that they “recognize our students’ right to debate and the rights of SGA as an independent body.” But, they also made clear they consider Hamas a terrorist organization which Israel has a right to defend itself against. And, while they acknowledged there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, they put the blame on Hamas.

“We have been very clear that FIU condemns the actions of Hamas on Oct. 7, and fully supports Israel’s right to defend and protect itself against terrorism,” Tovar and Jessell wrote. “We also grieve for the suffering and loss of life of innocent civilians in both Israel and Gaza and for the unfolding humanitarian crisis, as a result of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack.” Sutton said that since the resolution has not gone to the full Senate, the student government has not taken any position on the draft. “Student government is not demanding anything yet because it hasn’t passed,” Sutton said.