Student Government (SG) President Cesar Esmeraldi posted a video on both his and the official SG Instagram page urging senators to vote against a divestment resolution that will be voted on Tuesday night.

The “Divest from Israel Resolution” will be introduced during the SG Senate meeting and voted on by the senators. 

In the resolution, author Alina Atiq, a former hunger striker, asked SG to urge USF’s administration to make its investment portfolio public and divest from several companies “complicit in the ongoing assault on Palestine.”

Related: USF students to go on hunger strike for Palestine: ‘Putting our lives on the line’

Atiq, along with 17 other students, went through a 17-day hunger strike to urge the university to divest and publish its investment portfolio in March. However, they have been advised to end the hunger strike and are now called the USF Divestment Coalition, according to its Instagram.

Specifically, Atiq and her sponsors listed Hewlett Packard (HP), Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Caterpillar as companies “profiting from an ongoing assault.”

In the three-minute video, Esmeraldi said the resolution is “unreasonable, fails to be truthful and does not represent the whole student body.”

“The resolution is clearly one-sided and does not reflect the apolitical stance of USF,” he said. “We’re here for all students from all backgrounds and not to pick sides on wars.”

Comments on the post vary from supporting the president’s “fairness and neutrality” to others, not satisfied with his statements, urging that he is being “complicit to the genocide.”

USF SG branches of St. Pete’s and Sarasota-Manatee’s campus commented through their official Instagram accounts that they were “not consulted regarding the material of this content” and that “this video does not represent the views and beliefs” of the respective branches.

St. Pete senator Alexis Hobbs also commented “You do not represent the beliefs of senate and you cannot intimidate us into voting the way that you want.”

Atiq commented under the post that the resolution is “not divestment for the sake of one side of the war.”

Esmeraldi said some senators think the resolution is “not realistic.” He said senators have also said they do not believe that it represents the student body, but plan to vote in favor of the resolution because SG resolutions are “non-binding.” 

The resolution is sponsored by recently elected Tampa campus senator Ayisha Necholi.

Esmeraldi said Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman ‘have been in the red’ in the stock market over the last year, making the claim that USF would profit from “ongoing assault” untrue. 

However, Esmeraldi did not mention that over the past year, according to Yahoo Finance, HP and Caterpillar stock ‘have been in the green,’ or gaining value.

Related: USF has previously divested from companies. How are the Hunger Strikers’ demands different?

While Esmeraldi said the resolution would violate the university’s “apolitical stance,” SG Senate has previously passed resolutions on political issues, such as a spring 2022 resolution condemning Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Esmeraldi also explained that, per Florida Statutes, USF is not allowed to choose which companies to invest or divest from based on ideology and that the resolution’s demands are “not possible.” 

USF spokesperson Althea Johnson wrote that Florida Statute 1010.04 and HB3, both passed in 2023, prevent the university from divesting from these companies.

Esmeraldi’s explanation echoes a statement from USF Foundation in 2014, which claims “the USF Foundation will not divest investments or alter the investment policy or process based on requests from individuals or groups.”

At the time of publication, the video had 411 likes and 340 comments.

The Oracle has reached out to Esmeraldi and St. Pete and Sarasota-Manatee senators for comment but did not receive one at the time of publication.

Additional reporting by Julia Saad.