“Ceasefire Now! ” isn’t a battle worth fighting

Conor Moore | Staff Writer

Despite there being cuts to graduate funding, an imminent housing crisis for international students and an increasing DeSantis influence on the Board of Trustees, FIU’s administration and student body have focused the breadth of their energy and attention to a document that is at best a minor victory and at worst virtue signaling.

Not to say that FIU’s administration or SGA haven’t focused on these issues. But the fact that “Ceasefire Now!” was the first time many students had even stepped foot into the senate chambers is embarrassing.

Of course as students, we have the right to protest. That should be encouraged. 

However, we should be ashamed that something that doesn’t directly help FIU students has taken the spotlight in community politics – especially when the bulk of fighting is over language that can be changed and arbitrary timelines on when the resolution should be signed.

The situation in Israel and Palestine is heartbreaking and shouldn’t be ignored. But FIU’s community has not approached that conflict in a productive way, instead creating further problems.

The resolution would effectively amount to just FIU’s administration walking back on public statements – like a canceled celebrity making an apology. When there are international and graduate students nearing poverty, wasting time on that makes me mad.

There’s no doubt that the rhetoric of the resolution is fairly radical. I think students who support need to understand that the longer they hold out on having things exactly their way, the longer this is going to take. 

Some changes have to come in small steps. 

Though “Ceasefire Now!” has led to more rather than less conflict, our administration isn’t wholly justified here either. 

FIU’s administration has been careless regarding statements made. They came far too soon and vague, with a lack of acknowledgement of the nuance the situation has.

The full scale of the conflict just cannot be covered in a single statement, with the lives of many in pain going ignored.

Rogelio Tovar, BOT member, went and made several statements on television that sounded dismissive and crass.

And why is that? I’m confused, I really am. 

Where’s the news coverage and interviews when our track team doesn’t have a track? When international students struggle to find housing? When funding for DEI evaporates? 

Where’s our trustees – and our student body – for those issues? When have students packed the senate chambers over that?

But a proposed – not even signed – resolution is what gets air time. Ridiculous. 

FIU has a laundry list of problems that are being pushed to the side in the wake of drama over a resolution that represents wasted time and energy. 

Irrespective of its points, it will amount to very little. And I say this with the understanding that proponents of the resolution realize that it’s passing won’t abra-cadabra a ceasefire.

It would effectively amount to administrators begrudgingly and insincerely reversing their original statements – and that’s a best case scenario. A resolution can’t force the administration to do anything. 

The fact that it needs to be forced out of them with legislation such as this shows it’s a hassle and shouldn’t even be bothered with when there are more pressing issues at hand on campus.

Instead, as students, we should make a concerted effort to fix problems on campus, holding SGA, and FIU’s administration accountable for issues that matter. 

Sure, homeless students or poor track facilities don’t fit nicely on a slogan. And again, the plight of Gazans and Israelis is nothing to brush aside. 

But if we can’t even inform ourselves on the issues of our own community and help those right here on campus, then we are probably not equipped to help people across the globe.

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The opinions presented on this page do not represent the views of the PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.