Student body vice president Elizabeth Volmy condemned President Cesar Esmeraldi on Wednesday for expressing his personal views in a video posted on Student Government’s official social media account.

Volmy said the Esmeraldi’s statement, in which he encouraged student government officials to vote against a resolution that would call on USF to sever ties with Israel, “does not represent Student Government as a whole.”

“His video was inappropriate to post on the official SG page,” said Volmy, who also posted to her personal Instagram account and SG’s official Instagram page. 

Esmeraldi’s video was published Tuesday morning on both his personal Instagram account and the official USF SG account. He encouraged senators to vote against a measure that called for USF to divest from companies “complicit in the ongoing assault on Palestine.”

Esmeraldi said the measure, which narrowly passed late Tuesday, was “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 in the video. “We’re here for all students from all backgrounds and not to pick sides on wars.”

Related: USF student body president urges senators to vote against divestment resolution – The Oracle

In a statement to The Oracle, Volmy said she shared her concerns regarding the post to Esmeraldi before it was made public on Tuesday. She said Esmeraldi “shut down” her concerns and told her he would post regardless of her thoughts or concerns.

She said Esmeraldi failed to consult her, representatives of other campuses and their cabinet.

“I believe everyone should have the right to express their personal views, respectfully, but not on an official public platform where we are supposed to be representing the student body,” she wrote.

Volmy said she felt it was her duty to ensure students were aware Esmeraldi’s video did not represent the views of SG as a whole.

“To be silent is to be complacent,” she wrote.

Related: USF Student Government senate passes resolution encouraging administration to divest by one vote – The Oracle

The “USF Investment and Divestment Visibility” resolution, written by former hunger striker Alina Atiq, passed in a 16-15 vote on Tuesday night. 

The proposal called for USF to make its investment portfolio public and for its divestment from companies such as Hewlett Packard (HP), Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Caterpillar.

In a statement to The Oracle, Esmeraldi said Tuesday night’s split vote showed the complexity of the issue and how the resolution does not “represent the entirety of the student body.” He said he stands by his original statement and hopes leaders aren’t scared to speak up.

“I believe everyone is entitled to an opinion, and it is the duty of a leader to stand for what they believe is right,” he said.

Esmeraldi’s video also received backlash from other senators and SG branches from the St. Pete and Sarasota-Manatee campuses. 

Both SG branches commented under the post that they were not consulted regarding the content of the video. 

Before voting on the resolution began on Tuesday night, Senate President Fariah Ansari acknowledged Esmeraldi’s public statement and asked the senators to not be swayed by it.

“The statement was extremely one-sided and biased and made without the consent of the Senate or the governments on the other campuses,” Ansari said at the meeting.

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

Presidential and vice presidential candidates Alexa Matos and Rithvik Lee Pack disapproved of Esmeraldi’s statement. 

“Here at RISE we understand the role of which the student body president and vice president which does not include pressuring other students from a position of power,” the pair wrote on the campaign’s Instagram page.

Matos and Pack were the runner ups in this semester’s presidential election. The results of the election have not yet been certified. 

Students haven’t shied away from voicing their opinions regarding the posts. Esmeraldi’s video has reached 76,000 views one day after its publication. Volmy’s post has received close to 9,000 views within the first two hours of its posting.

Comments under Volmy’s video are calling for the removal of Esmeraldi’s original video. Others have also questioned why Volmy posted on the official SG account but criticized Esmeraldi for doing so. 

Volmy said she does not have access to the SG Instagram page and isn’t able to take the video down.

Other comments under Volmy’s video criticized her stoic delivery. 

“Why are they all talking like this? Like a weird simulation,” one user commented. 

Related: USF Student Government uncertified 2024 election results – The Oracle

In the video, Volmy urged students to understand the “complexity of the situation.” She asked that people respect each other’s viewpoints and spread kindness. 

“As your student body vice president, I am here to listen, support and advocate for the wellbeing of all students,” she said. 

This story has been updated to include statements from Volmy and Esmeraldi.