The Stanford Student Senate voted just last week to reject divestment, but just last night, in a closed-door meeting to Senators changed their votes and the anti-Israel measure passed. 

From the Stanford Daily:

Last week’s vote fell two percentage points short of passing – nine Senators voted in favor, five opposed and one abstained, meaning 64 percent of the Senate favored the bill, falling short of the two-thirds majority.

Approximately 35 Stanford students attended Tuesday’s meeting – last week’s meeting had over 400 people in attendance. Senator Ana Ordoñez ’17, who abstained from last week’s divestment, brought forward the motion calling for a re-vote.

An opportunity for a re-vote is generally left to the discretion of the Senate Chair.

Ordoñez, the current chair of the Senate, expressed that she was unable to focus last week because much of her energy was spent on trying to maintain the room.

“Now that the noise has subsided, I know that I voted incorrectly,” Ordoñez said.

Senators calling for a re-vote maintain that last week’s environment was hostile for those who were voting. Senators reported receiving numerous emails and text messages voicing various opinions on divestment. Ordoñez had given her closing remark at last week’s meetings in tears.

The motion to re-vote ultimately passed, with eight Senators voting in favor of the motion.

However, some Senators also questioned the constitutionality of the re-vote. Senator Andrew Aude ’16 maintained that a re-vote would paint the Senate as indecisive.

“The symbolism of divestment is lost if we go about it this way,” Aude said.

“It makes me want to bring a constitutional case against the Senate,” he added.

“We are doing a large part of the student body a disservice,” said Senator Eric Theis ’16, who maintains that the student body was given less than 24 hours notice on a midterm week. “It’s hard to use the motion to reconsider in the right way.”

The vote on the actual resolution saw two Senators change their votes.

Andrew Aude is partially correct, the vote flipping does make the Senate appear to be indecisive, but it also makes them appear cowardly. If these students really believed they were doing the right thing, they should have had no problem doing so in front of a large crowd. 

Perhaps they are more interested in receiving accolades from outsiders than they are in listening to their classmates.