Students enticed with energy drinks by TerpsVoteNo to vote against divestment referendum

Editor’s Note: Riona Sheikh is a former freelance writer for The Black Explosion.

A few students at the University of Maryland are lobbying their peers with free Celsius to entice them to vote “no” on the referendum to divest from certain weapons companies.

TerpsVoteNo, a recently formed collective of students that support voting against the referendum, distributed branded, free Celsius to students on McKeldin Mall to encourage them to vote against the ballot measure.

“The initial offer is ‘vote no, get a Celsius,’” Gabe Befus, a sophomore majoring in math and secondary education and volunteer for TerpsVoteNo, said.  

The divestment referendum asks students if the university should “divest from companies that consistently, knowingly, and directly facilitate and enable state violence and repression, war and occupation, or severe violations of international law and human rights,” in countries around the world.

Befus says the point of the Celsius drive is to inform students about arguments against divestment. He says divestment won’t, “help people on the ground that are suffering because of some human rights violations in different parts of the world.” 

He adds that divestment will hurt university students because targeted companies would not want to attend career fairs or hire new graduates.

The SGA bill that created the referendum question specifically mentions defense contractors, such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, among others. If the referendum passes, it would force the SGA to, “lobby USM, the USM Foundation, UMCP, and the UMCP Foundation to demand those institutions and organizations to divest.”

TerpsForIsrael, a student organization that engages students on issues regarding Israel, also posted flyers for free Chipotle and Chinese food to encourage students to vote against the initiative.

TerpsForIsrael leadership did not respond to requests for comment,

It’s not uncommon for SGA campaigns to distribute flyers to students during election season to support their campaign. But SGA Election Rules and Regulations prohibit, “distributing alcohol or food to any individuals while campaigning.”

Bribery and food distribution are both “Class A violations,” which could result in a campaign’s disqualification. However, the activities by TerpsVoteNo or TerpsForIsrael were not sponsored by any SGA campaign.

Students who were approached by TerpsVoteNo had mixed feelings about how the organization was campaigning against the initiative.

Owen Litvany, a sophomore material science engineering student, heard about the Celsius distribution from his friends. He was approached by a TerpsVoteNo volunteer who explained how divestment would “affect my chances of getting a job at some of these companies – Google, Amazon, a whole list of them.”

Litvany was encouraged to scan a QR code provided by the volunteer and proceeded to vote. While he wasn’t planning to vote, Litvany said he felt he voted the same way he would on his own and didn’t feel pressured to vote a certain way.

Casey Glickman, a sophomore journalism major, was also approached by a volunteer while walking past McKeldin Library. She said she felt the experience was “a little bit rushed.”

“It definitely could be problematic [for] students who just want an energy drink to get through the day and voting on stuff they’re not educated on,” Glickman said.

Riona Sheikh, a sophomore international relations major and the executive vice presidential candidate for JusticeUMD, sees the actions of TerpsVoteNo and TerpsForIsrael as “unfair” and feels these organizations are exploiting a “financial advantage,” they have over hers.

“None of us have that kind of money here at JusticeUMD to afford to buy a bunch of stuff,” Sheikh said. “It feels very wrong.”

It’s unclear how TerpsVoteNo got the funding to distribute the Celsius drink. Befus stated that they have “independent funding,” but did not elaborate on the individuals or organizations responsible.

The Black Explosion was unable to reach other members of TerpsVoteNo to get clarification on funding sources.

Sheikh feels that TerpsVoteNo is also misrepresenting the true intentions of the divestment initiative.

“We’re not trying to prevent people from getting internships. What we are trying to do is prevent our institution from continuing investment in weapons companies,” Sheikh said.

Other campaigns, such as Our College Park and StriveUMD, haven’t taken definitive stances on the divestment referendum. 

Graham Firosz, a sophomore computer engineering and public policy major, is running as student body president with StriveUMD. 

He wrote in a statement to The Black Explosion that, “we encourage every student to make their voice heard on these ballot questions, as that is the best way to gauge the student body’s feelings about these topics.”

Dhruvak Mirani, a junior computer science and government and politics major, is a student body president candidate for Our College Park. He said his campaign would not take a position on the divestment referendum because his campaign didn’t have enough time to thoroughly determine their position after the rules set by the SGA Elections Commission changed.

The commission initially prevented tickets from supporting referendums on the ballot this election. As of March 29, the commission ruled that, “tickets may support referendums on the Elections ballot for the 2025 University of Maryland Student Government Association elections.”

He adds that taking a position would, “arguably violate the intention and spirit behind [a referendum] if we were to influence how people are voting simply because they support us.”

Mirani said he does not believe that the lobbying tactics by certain organizations is, “in the spirit of what the referendum is trying to accomplish.”

Students can continue to vote on the divestment referendum until April 3 at 5 p.m.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misspelled Graham Firosz’s name. This story has been updated.