MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota’s student government is taking heat after it voted against an annual moment of silence to honor the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The proposal, which “formally recommends to the University of Minnesota Administration that there be a moment of silence on the morning of September 11^th, 2016 and all years following,” failed by a vote of 23-36 during a Minnesota Student Association meeting Nov. 10, TwinCities.com reports.

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The primary criticism against the measure was led the student association’s director of diversity David Algadi, who wrote in to the Minnesota Republic – the conservative student newspaper – to detail the reasoning behind the opposition.

In an email shared with The Washington Post, Algadi wrote that he’s “very passionate in my position to this resolution and here’s why.”

“9/11 is often used as reasoning for Islamophobia that takes both physical and verbal forms. The passing of this resolution might make a space that is unsafe for students on campus even more unsafe. Islamophobia and racism … are alive and well. I just don’t think that we can act like something like a moment of silence for 9/11 would exist in a vacuum when worldwide, Muslim and Middle Eastern folks undergo intense acts of terrorism around the 11th of September each year, and have since 2001,” Algadi wrote.

“In addition there is a particular racial politic present wherein when folks of color do something it becomes a stereotype, when white folks do something it becomes forgotten. Dylann Roof? James Eagan Holmes? Joseph Stack? Timothy McVeigh? When will we start having moments of silence for all of the times white folks have done something terrible?” he wrote.

Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor who penned the Post column, believes Algadi’s opposition to the moment of silence is misguided.

“Seems to me that an organized, coordinated act of war by a foreign entity against the United States, which kills 3,000 people – the only such massive act of war to touch U.S. soil in the lives of most Americans – is somewhat different than even what Timothy McVeigh did,” he wrote.

Cameron Holl, student senator for UMN’s College of Liberal Arts, agrees with Volokh, and described the resolution’s failure as “un-American” to the Republic.

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“There was no reason for any student not to vote on this resolution and much of the dissenting discussion was wildly speculative and unrelated to the resolution itself,” she said. “Additionally, the same people who voted to close discussion early didn’t offer any amendments or changes to the resolution to find compromise and do their due part as a member of the forum, which I think shows a lack of effort and respect for others’ opinions and beliefs.”

Nathan Amundson, president of the school’s Young Americans for Liberty chapter, echoed Holl’s sentiments, and said fears of fueling Islamophobia ultimately killed the resolution.

“This resolution was non-controversial and was supported by the MSA’s president and vice president,” Amundson said. “However, several members … were militant in their opposition to it due to a perceived bias toward Muslims.”

The MSA issued a statement on the vote Friday alleging opposition also focused on the logistics of organizing a campus-wide moment of silence, according to the Post.

“Much of the coverage of this resolution has revolved around the discussion of the potential perpetuation of Islamophobia. While this was certainly a valid and unanswered concern of the body, much of the discussion in Forum on this resolution also revolved around the logistics of how a moment of recognition could be implemented on a college campus of thousands and the lack of requested research on if and how this is executed on other campuses,” the statement read.

“There had been suggestions made in committee meetings during the prior week on research and execution steps, but none were included in the version presented to Forum.”

UMN vice provost for student affairs Danita Brown Young wrote in a statement Friday that the school supports a way to recognize the victims of 9/11, and defended the MSA votes as an attempt to incorporate the details necessary to implement a “worthy form of recognition on campus,” TwinCities.com reports.

MSA leaders are working to address concerns with the proposal and plan to bring it back for another vote, possibly at the next MSA meeting Nov. 24.

“The maturity to want a more comprehensive resolution should be applauded, and we hope that other swill take a moment to understand the entire situation before attacking the actions of our students – who, it is important to remember, proactively brought forward the resolution in the first place,” Young wrote.

Those who posted on the MSA’s Facebook page, however, seem to believe students’ initial vote says it all.

“Absolutely despicable,” one commenter wrote. “You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

“I am disgusted by this,” another posted.