On Slander, Accountability and CSG Elections During the past seven days, I have lived, breathed and consumed

#UMDivest. I watched students transform campus politics and activist organizing in powerful ways that can never be undone. I am amazed that we were able to accomplish anything amid a well-orchestrated slanderous campaignone that especially singles out visible organizers as a way to delegitimize #UMDivest as a whole. I have held back on speaking about this because I did not want to divert attention away from the beauty and power of #UMDivest, especially when so many have tried desperately to derail our efforts and focus. For the past week, I and others have been targeted and slandered in grossly personal and unethical ways. I have quietly endured this abuse thinking that if I worked with the system, if I just followed procedure, then as a student, the University would protect me and help put such inflammatory behavior to rest. But I am not white, male, or part of some strong fraternity network. In other words, I am fair game. I have been accused of using anti-Semitic derogatory wordswords that I would never tolerate in my presence, let alone think or speak. My involvement in social justice work for the past four years stems from a fundamental belief that I can never enact onto others what I am fighting against. I was shocked then that at last Tuesdays meeting and in multiple spaces before that, Bobby Dishell, who is currently running for president for CSG, spread false statements claiming he received anti-Semitic remarks from leaders of #UMDivest. For the past week Bobby has slandered me in particular, trying to damage my reputation in a way that rendered me powerless to negate the allegations. He has used my name only selectively when discussing how he has been attacked because of his identity. He would anonymously suggest and connect me to these false allegations in some spaces, and in other spaces unambiguously point to me as the offender. Both approaches are harmful. The ramifications of him publicly and repeatedly yet anonymously bringing up the anti-Semitic remark against him (which I will not reproduce because of how vile it is) is only a way for him to protect himself from any form of verification or political accountability. The ramifications of his accusations on my life have been material and damaging, and I cannot be silent about this any longer. I speak up now not to shame Bobby but to hold him accountable as someone who thinks he is worthy of representing me and my peers. I speak up because I will not be intimidated into silencepublicly or anonymously. I speak up because I do not think slander and evasion of accountability should be traits for any president of our student body. All of this should not come as a surprise when we think back to how just one year ago, Bobby ran a CSG campaign founded on a revolting video rife with Blackface and cultural appropriation. His actions from then until now demonstrate the type of leader he is. I dont know what Bobbys intentions were with targeting me with slanderI dont know if he was using me as collateral damage in a race to win an election or if he just badly wanted to

dehumanize #UMDivest. I just know that anyone who does this sort of reckless behavior does not deserve to represent us. As I type this statement in the Union, I look for a space to work in solitude. But I do not know where to go anymore. In the past week, I have been the target of racialized, gendered and islamophobic behaviors that have been met with no seriousness or urgency from people and spaces I thought would support me. It is audacious to speak of any "safe space" on this campus when I have witnessed how my emotional and psychological well-being, my academic and professional career, and my physical safety on campus have all been threatened this past week. It hurts to know that I have poured so much of my energy, time and soul into this place only to find out that the University will not protect me or nurture me no matter how many hands I extend to it, because this place was not built for me. Nor has it initiated behavior or policies to affirm me and those like me. And until it adopts inclusive, proactive ways of being that support students who do not have the kind of power, means and capital we saw used this past week to slander and wear out already marginalized students, my experience will recur again and again. -Zeinab