Students at the University of Houston want their student body vice president to be removed after one of her Facebook posts offended Black Lives Matter supporters, according to Campus Reform.
Rohini Sethi, Vice President of the UH Student Government Association, posted a Facebook status on Thursday after the Dallas police shootings that read “Forget #BlackLivesMatter; more like #AllLivesMatter.”
Many students said they were offended by her status, saying it dehumanized African Americans at the school. Many students called for Sethi to be removed from her role as vice president, getting #RemoveRohini trending on Twitter.
One Twitter user, who claimed to be a UH alumnus, tweeted, “Can we fire her up now? Like just fry this girl? Lol pls pls guys. #RemoveRohini.”
A black UH student tweeted, “my black a** vote got you elected, now my black a** voice is gonna get you removed. #RemoveRohini @UHSGA.”
One student started a petition on Change.org addressed to University of Houston President Renu Khator asking for Sethi’s removal from her position.
On Saturday afternoon, the UHSGA released a message from Student Body President Shane Smith via Facebook in which he called for reconciliation and peaceful dialogue. In his statement, Smith did not reference Sethi’s post.
“It’s how we direct our anger that determines our success — we can let it guide and destroy us or we can use it as motivation to advocate for change,” Smith said.
Another student from the UHSGA released a statement on Tuesday.
“SGA consists of many members with diverse viewpoints. Of course, no one opinion can be considered representative of every person in the organization,” the statement read.
UH president Renu Khator weighed in on the controversy, tweeting that “UH community has, and will continue to be, engaged in respectful discourse on diversity, inclusion, and unity.”
Sethi apologized in a Facebook post on Monday for failing to realize that her post would offend many people. Despite her apology, Sethi continued to emphasize that all lives matter.
“Visually we are black, white, tan, and a hundred shades between but we are all human, thus I believe that all lives matter. Our community is the most diverse in the nation, and we should cherish the lesson that teaches us. I hope to embrace language that binds us together rather than language that singles some out,” Sethi wrote.
The UH SGA will host a town hall on Thursday for students to discuss their beliefs about the statement and race relations on campus.
Matthew Wiltshire, an associate justice on the UHSGA supreme court, resigned in protest of the treatment Sethi has received.
“Nobody has a right to destroy another for their sincerely held beliefs. You can debate. You can argue. You can even be an ass. What you can’t do is grind someone down so far that their life changes,” Wiltshire said. “The leaders of BLM on our campus, either through reckless abandon or purposeful calculation, have gotten the media involved in a way that is sure to create negative press for Rohini in particular. The end result is that an anonymous crowd will attempt to destroy the career and future livelihood of a good person.”
