Editor’s Note: This article was written by Liliana French, Jenna Outcalt and John Haslun from The Daily Campus News Section in collaboration with Katie Servas from WHUS.
Students voted 184 to 68 with 10 abstentions to advance a referendum on disclosure of investments and divestment from weapons manufacturers in a USG Internal Affairs meeting on Monday from 7 to 9:30 p.m.
The meeting was moved into a 400 person capacity room due to high expected attendance and over 40 students spoke at the meeting.
The resolution, titled “An Act Concerning the Passing of the Spring 2025 Referendum to be Released to UConn’s Undergraduate Fee-Paying Student Body,” was written by Jasmine Maggio and read out during the meeting.
It contained questions asking if students would be in favor of disclosure and divestment from military companies and companies which profit from Israel’s military actions in Gaza. It also asked if students would be in favor of disclosure of current ethical investment policies and the creation of ethical investment policies. The referendum would ask if students were in favor of UConn ending “all partnerships and ties” with the military-industrial complex.
USG’s Internal Affairs Committee is responsible for “considering budgets, bills, and resolutions that pertain to the internal funding of USG,” according to Clause 3a of Bylaw VII.
Speaker of the USG Senate Kyle Lowry discussed the process that the resolution would take after its passage in Internal Affairs.
“Recently, we passed a bylaw, which established the procedure for any undergraduate student to author legislation calling for a referendum,” Lowry said.
Votes must pass in a USG committee, the student senate with a two thirds majority and the governing board, according to Lowry. Only USG senators can vote in the student senate meeting, which will be held on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in SU 330. In order to be approved by the Governing Board, the legislation must receive affirmative votes from the majority of membership.
Then, the legislation would go to a student referendum via UConntact, where results would only be released if turnout was at least 15%. The USG judiciary would then certify the results.
In the 2024 undergraduate student trustee election, turnout was 17.5% across all campuses, according to The Daily Campus. Only fee-paying undergraduate Storrs students would be allowed to vote in this referendum.
“The vote would inform USG on how we can advocate on the issue in a way that represents the true will of undergraduate students,” Lowry said.
USG President Lorien Touponse stated that the referendum was not proposed by USG, but that USG votes on issues brought up on their agenda.
“We felt really inclined to try to provide a calm and controlled space to discuss this really tough issue that a lot of students care passionately about,” Touponse said. “I think this is one of the biggest meetings USG’s ever had […] this room holds a capacity of 400 people, and we’ve pretty much filled it up.”
Touponse and Lowry declined to comment on how they would vote in USG’s governing board if the resolution passed the senate.
We felt really inclined to try to provide a calm and controlled space to discuss this really tough issue that a lot of students care passionately about
Lorien Touponse, USG President
Director of Organization Support Services Angelo Montes-Diaz sponsored the resolution.
“It aligns with some of my personal beliefs. I think that there were points on both ends that were very, very educational and very, very fundamental to […] organize a very constructive conversation,” Montes-Diaz said.
The referendum had been previously proposed in an internal affairs meeting held on Dec. 2, 2024, from 7 to 8:41 p.m. but was voted down in the meeting which had about 25 participants.
Montes-Diaz was present in the December meeting where the resolution was rejected and found it a little overwhelming and disappointing, but liked seeing students use their voices.
“But just having a bunch of students come in and voicing their concerns and voicing what they felt represented them best and exercising their right as students to come in and vote something down,” Montes-Diaz said. “It was very, very cool to witness that.”
Montes-Diaz also commented on the high turnout at the recent meeting.
“Seeing students actually take part in our undergraduate student government was extremely exciting and I’m very, very happy, just in general, for the students that came in,” Montes-Diaz said.
Resolution sponsor and Asian American Cultural Center Ex-Officio Senator Haritha Subramanian explained that anyone can be part of USG committee meetings. Subramanian said that a USG bylaw allows any student who shows up to a meeting to vote.
“I think this subject matter is pretty simple at the heart of it. Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza,” Subramanian said. “And it’s simply not okay that UConn is complicit in that. All this resolution is really doing is just putting this up to a vote to UConn students.”
Other sponsors included Multicultural Diversity Senator Sam Ramirez, UConn UNCHAIN, UConn Jewish Voices for Peace, UConn Students for Justice in Palestine and the UConn Muslim Students Association.
Students who chose to speak at the meeting were given two minutes each. Undergraduate Dylan Steer spoke at the meeting and wanted a chance for the student body’s voices to be heard.
“This is not a religious issue, but a purely political one,” Steer said. “In the 1980s, students across the United States took a stand against the apartheid government of South Africa.”
Haley Janush used her two minutes to question Maggio stating that her primary goal of the document was to delegitimize Israel.
“If you’re just going to badger me to try and get the answers you want then there is no point to this,” Maggio responded.
Troy Sweet, an undergraduate Jewish student argued that the referendum “does not promote peace but promotes hate.”
A senior who did not want to be named said that the referendum was the best way for students to take action.
“It is not okay to invade other countries or territories, it is not okay to kill people, what is happening in Gaza, is someone much more powerful killing innocent people,” the senior said.
Anti-referendum Jewish, Israeli American student Jacob Levy spoke about the financial implications the referendum would have.
“If [the referendum] were to be passed, there would be legal action,” Levy said. “It also removes key sponsors from the University such as Pratt & Whitney, Teva Pharmaceuticals […] that would decimate our School of Pharmacy, School of Engineering, and even our School of Law.”
Levy said that passing this referendum as a university would ensure a definite loss of federal funding for UConn programs because Trump “already promised to withhold federal funding from all institutions that pass ‘BDS’ resolutions.”
Following the passage of the resolution, UConn Hillel and Jewish on Campus at UConn posted on Instagram, telling students to contact senators telling them to vote against it. They encouraged students to sign a petition.
UConn Divest, UConn UNCHAIN, UConn SJP and JVP UConn also posted on Instagram, encouraging students to sign a different petition and contact senators telling them to vote in favor of the resolution.
This article was updated on Feb. 5 to clarify the process of passing legislation calling for a referendum.
This article was updated on Feb. 22 to remove a student’s name from a quote.
Students should be aware of the other things that Israel does with US weapons, such as:
– destroying syrias chemical weapons before they fell into the hands of the “rebel” government in 2024
– destroying a hezbollah missile factory built into a mountain on the Lebanon/syria border in 2024
– destroying a North Korea built nuclear reactor in Syria before it went “hot”. (Read about Operation Orchard)
– destroying countless Hamas tunnels and weapons stockpiles in Gaza; Iran and Hezbollah weapons shipments in the Middle East
While Israel’s enemies would certainly commit genocide against Israeli Jews if they had the chance (they say it openly), Israel exhibits incredible restraint and uses its power to remove weapons of mass destruction from the hands of groups who threaten many innocent populations, including Americans. They should be celebrated for this. The gaza war is very sad, but calling it “genocide” is pure propaganda. Call for a full release of all the hostages and bodies taken by Hamas on Oct 7 2023, which started the war, and Vote against divestment.