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Student activism in the BDS movement

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Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement have merged together in their effort to lead the struggle to ending Israeli occupation of Palestine.

SJP has had several victories in the BDS movement on university campuses. Because of a campus-wide campaign at Hampshire College, the Board of Directors decided to divest from holdings affiliated with involvement in the Israeli occupation in 2009. In June 2010, students at Evergreen State College — the alumnus of Rachel Corrie — voted by vast margins to pass BDS resolutions in a referendum. Beginning in November 2010, similar effort by SJP chapters at Princeton University and DePaul University led to student referendums to replace Sabra from campus dining halls. An alternative brand of hummus was introduced at DePaul in 2011.

In 2010, a landmark BDS initiative at University of California, Berkeley gained international attention. The resolution passed the student senate but was vetoed by the student body president. In November 2012, similar legislation at the student senate unanimously passed at University of California, Irvine, which created a domino effect at other California universities. By March 2013, divestment initiatives at several California universities gained serious momentum. Following a BDS defeat at Stanford University, BDS legislation at University of California, Riverside and University of California, San Diego succeeded.

The emergence of BDS activism by Latin American groups marked a substantial growth of the movement. The largest Latino student organization in the United States — MEChA — overwhelmingly voted to support BDS in March 2012. Three months later, Arizona State University's student government unanimously endorsed BDS and asked the university to divest its endowment from any corporations affiliated with facilitating the Israeli occupation.

In Canada, University of Regina's student government became the first in Canada to endorse BDS in 2012. Graduate student unions at Carleton University and University of Toronto voted overwhelmingly to divest. Student governments at York University and University of Toronto Mississauga passed BDS legislation with overwhelming support.

Divestment at Hampshire College

Hampshire College's SJP began a two-year campaign to divest their universities involvement from Israeli occupation. Over 800 students, professors and alumni signed a petition to divest from holdings from holdings in a mutual fund run by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) which invested in companies that "provide the Israeli military with equipment and services in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza."[1] On February 7, 2009, the Board of Trustees of Hampshire College concluded that SSgA held stocks that violated the college’s policy on "socially responsible investments." Although the meeting minutes showed that Hampshire President Hexter acknowledged that it was the "good work of SJP" that brought this issue to the attention of the committee, the university's official declaration stated that the divestment decision "expressly did not pertain to a political movement or single out businesses active in a specific region or country."[2] Hampshire College's actions were symbolic because it was the first university to divest from South African apartheid in 1977.[1]

Princeton and DePaul campaign to boycott Sabra

Princeton University

On November 11, 2010, the SJP at Princeton[3] — Princeton Committee on Palestine (PCP) — began collecting signatures to place a non-binding referendum that called on Princeton University to ban Sabra from campus.[4] The referendum's wording was rephrased to call for alternatives to Sabra at Princeton. After complaints by a representative from Tigers for Israel on the technicality of rephrasing the referendum, the Student Government on November 20 decided that a new petition had to be submitted with 200 signatures to have a rephrased referendum. After two days, a new petition with the rephrased wording and 200 signatures was submitted to Student Government.[5] After a week’s delay, the referendum was placed on the ballot on the week of November 29.[6] Students voted down the referendum 1,014 to 699.[7]

DePaul University

On November 11, 2010, SJP at DePaul University expressed concerns that Sabra supported the Israeli occupation. On November 19, the university temporarily suspended the sale of Sabra products and told campaign organizers that Sabra products are set to be removed from shelves for the remainder of the school quarter.[8][9] On November 24, DePaul University reversed its stance to remove Sabra from campus by reinstating it in the dining halls.[7]

On May 12, 2011, the DePaul SJP presented a non-binding referendum to the Student Government concerning Sabra. After deliberation, the Student Government decided to place the referendum on the ballot from May 16 to May 20.[10][11] The student referendum was the first referendum on the ballot in over 10 years.[12] The students voted to remove Sabra with 1,127 votes in favor of removing Sabra out of 1,467 votes cast. 332 students voted against the referendum, and 8 voted “other.”[13] Although the referendum passed, it was not recorded as an official referendum because total voter turnout did not increase 1,500.[14][15] Following the election, the Fair Business Practices Committee ultimately decided to keep Sabra in the dining halls despite student opposition. Several months later, DePaul introduced an alternative brand of hummus on campus to "to “provide the university community with more dining choices”.[16]

California BDS initiative

SJP at Berkeley led a 40 group coalition and over 100 UC faculty members to support divestment at University of California, Berkeley. On March 17, 2010, UC Berkeley Student Senate voted 16-4 to support divestment companies that provided military equipment used against Palestinian civilians including General Electric and United Technologies. A week later, UC Berkeley Student Body President vetoed the divestment bill.[17] On April 14 and April 28, initiatives to overturn the veto failed. The final vote was 12-7 with 1 abstention, which meant that the initiative to overturn the presidential veto was one vote short.[18]

Irvine domino effect

On November 13, 2012, the University of California, Irvine Student Senate unanimously passed a resolution 16-0 to call on University of California to divest from companies that assist or directly profit from Israeli human rights abuses including Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, General Electric, Sodastream, Raytheon and L-3 Communications.[19][20] The President of UC Irvine Student Body praised the legislation by stating, “We are agents of change in this world.”[21] SJP chapters throughout the country lauded the Irvine Divest campaign.[22]

Stanford University's SJP chapter led a coalition of student organizations after two years of campaigning.[23] On February 19, 2013, they presented a draft bill to the Undergraduate Senate for a recommendation to the university's Board of Trustees to divest from companies with known affiliations of human rights violations in Palestine. On March 5, Senate voted 7-1 against the bill with 5 abstains. After the meeting, a former Stanford Student Body President wrote a letter to SPER mailing list expressing his disappointment in the Senate's failure to pass the bill.[24] The SJP chapter at Stanford noted that although their resolution did not pass, the Senate passed a separate resolution that expressed the Senate's firm stance against investment in companies that cause "substantial social injury” and called for "the Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility and Licensing to review the University’s investments to ensure compliance with the University’s Statement on Investment Responsibility."[23]

Stanford's BDS defeat was notably followed by two quick BDS victories at University of California, Riverside and University of California, San Diego. On March 8, 2013, substantial campaigning by SJP at University of California, Riverside (UCR) produced a victory when the Senate voted 11-5 to endorse BDS and divest from Caterpillar and Hewlett Packard.[23] The vote in support of BDS at UCR was large enough to avoid a veto by the undergraduate student body president who opposed the resolution.[25]

South Florida divest

Placing BDS on the ballot

In mid-January 2013, University of South Florida SJP presented a divestment resolution which was rebuffed by the Senate President who refused to place it on the Senate floor despite several Senate sponsors. Student Government informed SJP that it had to gather 1,540 signatures to have the referendum placed on the ballot for general elections. SJP submitted petition of a non-binding resolution on February 8 with over 2,500 signatures gathered in three days which endorsed BDS and called for the divestment of corporations affiliated with human rights violations against Palestinians.

On February 21 — the Thursday before Election Week — SJP was notified that the referendum would not be on the ballot because of advise from a legal counsel representative. The legal counsel representative claimed USF can not take political stances and the referendum violated state statue because it was illegal for student employees to "directly or indirectly advice where a government entity spends its commodities." She also claimed it was illegal to discriminate against corporations.

SJP clarified that the non-binding referendum was strictly humanitarian not political. SJP also stated that student body is not composed of government employees, therefore the state statue does not apply to the non-binding student referendum. SJP made it clear it was illegal to restrict a referendum based on its content, regardless of whether it is political or not. SJP pointed out that student government had previous political referendums on the ballot including the Real Food referendum and the Health Care referendum. SJP stressed that the referendum was legal and simply an outlet to exercise their first amendment right as Americans to “freedom of speech.” Despite being pressed by SJP, the legal counsel representative did not provide where it was written that USF does not take political stances. SJP consulted American Civil Liberties Union and First Amendment lawyers from around the country who made it clear that the referendum was legal.

Student government ultimately decided to place the referendum on the election ballot for Election Week from February 25 to February 28.

Discounting the referendum

On March 1, the student body president sent out a mass email to the entire student body minutes before the announcement of election results. He stated the referendum could not be recorded as an official student government referendum because student government violated its own bylaws in not making the referendum public and accessible 1 week before elections. But the results of the referendum were publicly announced with 2111 students in favor and 609 students opposed.

Canada divestment movement

University of Regina student government became the first student government in Canada to endorse BDS after it unanimously passed a resolution presented by the SAIA chapter to endorse the BDS movement on February 1, 2012.[26] In March 2012, SAIA presented a referendum on the Carleton University Graduate Student Association ballot. On March 21st and March 22, the graduate students voted 204-77 to support the initiative to divest.[27]

On mid-November 2012, York University SAIA brought forth a resolution to divest from from Hewlett Packard, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, and Lockheed Martin. The York University Graduate Student Union voted 29-7 to endorse the resolution.[7]

After an extended campaign by SAIA initiated in March 2011, University of Toronto's Graduate Student Union endorsed BDS on December 10, 2012 with a vote of 97%.[28][29] On March 1, 2013, SAIA succeeded at University of Toronto Mississauga when its student government voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution endorsing BDS.[30]

List of universities that have passed BDS

Universities that have passed BDS legislation at student government in United States:

Universities that have passed BDS legislation at student government in Canada:

On February 2009, Hampshire College became the first and only university to divest from Israel.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Hampshire College first in US to divest from Israel". The Electronic Intifada. The Electronic Intifada. 12 Feb 2009. Retrieved 2013-03-13.
  2. ^ Schworm, Peter (12 Feb 2009). "Hampshire College cuts ties with fund invested in Israel". Boston.com. Boston.com. Retrieved 2013-03-13.
  3. ^ "A BDS Debate at Princeton, with J Street, JVP, and me (this Wednesday)". maxblumenthal.com. 13 Dec 2010. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  4. ^ Halder, Alaka (19 Nov 2010). "Students campaign for alternative hummus". The Daily Princetonian. The Daily Princetonian. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  5. ^ Greene, Abby (22 Nov 2010). "Dipping in controversy: A look at Princeton's hummus debate". The Ink. University Press Club. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  6. ^ Jackson, Rachel (29 Nov 2010). "After week's delay, voting on Sabra hummus referendum opens". The Daily Princetonian. The Daily Princetonian. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  7. ^ a b c Lewin, Tamar (3 Dec 2010). "New Subject of Debate on Mideast: Hummus". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-03-13. Cite error: The named reference "nythummus" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  8. ^ Kishawi, Sami (19 Nov 2010). "DePaul 'divests' from Israeli hummus product". Sixteen Minutes to Palestine. Retrieved 2013-03-13.
  9. ^ Kishawi, Sami (22 Nov 2010). "Update on DePaul's temporary divestment from Sabra products: Official Statement". Sixteen Minutes to Palestine. Retrieved 2013-03-13.
  10. ^ Murphy, Maureen (16 May 2011). "Sabra boycott referendum up for student vote at DePaul University". The Electronic Intifada. The Electronic Intifada. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  11. ^ Schanz, Jenn (17 May 2011). "SGA holds referendum on Sabra hummus". The DePaulia. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  12. ^ McCraney, Lacey (17 May 2011). "Hummus Vote More Than Dip Debate at DePaul". NBC Chicago. NBC News. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  13. ^ "DePaul students vote to boycott Sabra Hummus". BDSmovement.net. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  14. ^ Kishawi, Sami (25 May 2011). "DePaul vote on Sabra hummus a victory for human rights". The Electronic Intifada. The Electronic Intifada. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  15. ^ "Referendum to ban Israeli hummus at DePaul fails". ABC Local News. ABC News. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  16. ^ Barrows-Friedman, Nora (25 May 2011). "Ethical alternatives to Sabra hummus now at DePaul University". The Electronic Intifada. The Electronic Intifada. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  17. ^ Pazornik, Amanda (12 Feb 2009). "UPDATE: U.C.Berkeley student president vetoes divest-from-Israel resolution". Jweekly. j. Retrieved 2013-03-13.
  18. ^ Omar, Dina (3 May 2010). "At Berkeley, moral victory despite divestment vote loss". The Electronic Intifada. The Electronic Intifada. Retrieved 2013-03-13.
  19. ^ Ceasar, Stephen (14 Nov 2012). "UC Irvine student leaders urge UC to divest from some companies". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-03-13. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ Abunimah, Ali (14 Nov 2012). "Historic UC Irvine divestment vote deals stinging defeat to Zionist bullying on campus". The Electronic Intifada. The Electronic Intifada. Retrieved 2013-03-13.
  21. ^ Kolsy, Uzma (27 Nov 2012). "UC Irvine Students Vote to Divest From Israel". The Nation. The Nation. Retrieved 2013-03-13.
  22. ^ Moon, Sarah (19 Nov 2012). "UCI Passes Unanimous Divestment Resolution". University of California San Diego The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-03-13.
  23. ^ a b c Kane, Alex (7 March 2013). "California BDS debate heats up: Riverside campus passes divestment measure as Stanford rejects the same". Mondowiess. Mondoweiss. Retrieved 2013-03-14. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ Moore, Justine (8 Mar 2013). "Undergraduate Senate votes against divestment bill". The Stanford Daily. The Stanford Daily. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  25. ^ Gordon, Larry (8 March 2013). "UC Riverside student Senate urges divestment from firms working in West Bank". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  26. ^ Barrows-Friedman, Nora (17 Feb 2012). "BDS roundup: The victories of 2012". The Electronic Intifada. The Electronic Intifada. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  27. ^ Abunimah, Ali (23 Mar 2012). "In Canadian first, Carleton University students pass Israel occupation divestment resolution by large margin". The Electronic Intifada. The Electronic Intifada. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  28. ^ Barrows-Friedman, Nora (12 Dec 2012). "University of Toronto graduate students endorse BDS, call on administration to divest". The Electronic Intifada. The Electronic Intifada. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  29. ^ Oldynski, Erin (20 Feb 2013). "UofT Graduate Students Demand that University of Toronto Divest From Israeli Companies that Violate Human Rights". Yahoo! Finance Canada. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  30. ^ Benari, Elad (5 March 2013). "Students at Toronto University Pass BDS Motion". Arutz Sheva. Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
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