By Marijke Friedman, Akshaj Gaur and Natalie Weger
The University of Maryland SGA’s elections commission announced Thursday that an official endorser of the Our College Park ticket bribed students to vote unfavorably on the divestment referendum on this spring’s SGA ballot.
The Student Government Association elections commission received multiple election violation reports against Our College Park earlier this month. The reports alleged that Terps Vote No, a coalition of students who oppose the referendum, encouraged students to vote against divestment by distributing Celsius energy drinks.
The commission did not find enough evidence to show Our College Park’s direct involvement with the bribery, according to a report from the commission published Thursday.
But the commission found that this university’s Christians United for Israel chapter — which endorsed the Our College Park ticket — was closely involved with the Terps Vote No campaign and the distribution of Celsius.
During last week’s SGA elections, students voted on whether to call for the University System of Maryland Foundation and University of Maryland College Park Foundation to divest from certain security, military and defense companies.
SGA has not yet published the election results.
The Black Explosion reported last week that the Terps Vote No campaign offered to give students a free Celsius if they voted “no” on the referendum. Terps Vote No did not respond to a request for comment.
[UMD students campaign ahead of SGA divestment referendum]
According to SGA election rules, bribery results in a 100-point penalty and the disqualification of the ticket. But the commission imposed a lesser point penalty and no sanctions on Our College Park.
“While the endorsing organization acted improperly — and endorsements reflect on the ticket — the ticket itself was not a part of the Terps Vote No drink distribution efforts,” the commission wrote in its report.
The election violation reports alleged that Our College Park’s ticket as a whole and two individual candidates violated election campaign rules by bribing students.
The commission found that the candidates were not responsible for the bribery allegations, but the overall ticket violated SGA’s election rules.
In a statement to The Diamondback, Our College Park wrote that the ticket is pleased the commission made the “correct determination” that the party’s candidates abided by election rules.
The ticket’s statement said Our College Park had “absolutely no involvement” in the Christian United for Israel chapter’s actions.
“Our ticket can’t control who endorses us, nor can we control the actions of individuals who are not associated with our ticket,” Our College Park wrote.
JusticeUMD, an SGA ticket that supports the referendum, submitted reports of the violations to the elections commission, according to a statement from the ticket.
The ticket “felt it upon ourselves to pursue those reports in order to ensure those responsible face consequences for their actions,” the statement read.
JusticeUMD welcomes the commission’s ruling, the statement read, but is disappointed the commission did not go further.
The commission did not sanction Christians United for Israel or its president, Nicholas Marks.
Marks, a senior government and politics and secondary education major, helped coordinate the Celsius distributions, the commission’s report read. The distribution was also discussed in Christians United for Israel’s group messaging channels, according to the report.
Marks declined to comment on the election violations. This university’s Christians United for Israel chapter also declined to comment.
Marks was previously involved in an SGA election controversy two years ago when he falsified dozens of petition signatures in an election appeal review process, The Diamondback previously reported.
The referendum question on last week’s ballot calls on SGA to begin lobbying the university system foundation and UMCP foundation to divest from companies that may be implicated in human rights violations, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon.
Discussions about divestment have increased at this university since Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 people hostage during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, according to the Associated Press. Israel declared war on Hamas the next day and its military forces have killed more than 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza since, the Associated Press reported Friday.
[UMD SGA votes to extend contract with online election resource]
In a statement to The Diamondback, this university said the results of the referendum will have “no bearing on the operations or policies of the university or its foundations.”
“This referendum was led and undertaken by undergraduate students, as is their right to do so in accordance with SGA policies and procedures,” the statement read.
This university declined to comment on the election violations.
During last week’s election, other campus organizations, which did not endorse any SGA tickets, incentivized students to vote against the divestment referendum.
The Terps for Israel student organization offered students free Chipotle and Chinese food if they voted unfavorably on the referendum, according to Instagram posts last week.
This university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, which endorsed JusticeUMD, was scheduled to host a Knafe Night on April 2, which would have featured Arab desserts. The organization later canceled the event.
The university system referred to this university in response to a request for comment. The UMCP foundation referred to this university in response to The Diamondback’s request for comment.
The university system foundation did not immediately respond to The Diamondback’s request for comment.
