"DePaul Divest referendum on SGA ballot passes 1,575-1,333"

Article in the DePaulia,

DePaul University (Chicago, Illinois)

May 23, 2014

At: http://www.depauliaonline.com/news/depaul-divest-referendum-on-sga-ballot-passes-1-575-1-333-1.3168577#.U3_MQ_wU-M8

"Students voted in favor of an SGA referendum calling on DePaul to withdraw its investments in companies that do business with Israel’s military and corporations that work in the West Bank and Gaza, easily passing by 54.2 percent. A total of 2,908 votes were cast, with 45.8 percent against the referendum.

"The vote, dubbed 'DePaul Divest', followed weeks of campaigning by the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and counter demonstrations by several campus Jewish groups opposed to the measure. SJP set up a ‘refugee camp’ in the SAC pit as well as an ‘apartheid wall’ detailing Israel’s alleged human rights violations..."

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"DePaul students vote for divestment despite Israeli government interference"

May 23, 2014
Full story at: http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/depaul-students-vote-divestment-despite-israeli-government-interference
 
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Map of previous divestment campaigns

In the UCLA Daily Bruin at: http://dailybruin.com/images/2014/04/4.28.News_.Divestment.FIXED_.jpg

 (April 2014)

 

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2014:"US Student Victories in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement"

At: http://rahimk.tumblr.com/post/58642125362/us-student-victories-in-the-boycott-divestment-and

2003 - Wayne State University (divestment)
2005 - University of Michigan - Dearborn (divestment) (again in 2010)
2009 - Hampshire College (divestment)*
2010 - UC Berkeley (divestment receives majority vote, but is vetoed)
2011 - DePaul University (Sabra boycott)
2012 - Earlham College (Sabra boycott)
2012 - Evergreen State College (product boycott)
2012 - Arizona State University (divestment)
2012 - National MEChA endorsement of BDS (divestment)
2012 - University of Massachusetts – Boston (divestment)
2013 - UC Irvine (divestment)
2013 - UC San Diego (divestment)
2013 - UC Berkeley (divestment)
2013 - Oberlin college (divestment)
2013 - UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara also reached majority votes for divestment but had their senate votes stricken due to pressure.
2014 - Loyola University at Chicago (divestment)
2014 - UC Riverside
2014 - University of New Mexico Graduate and Professional Student Association
2014 - DePaul University (referendum)

(This list is likely missing some victories prior to 2012.)

*Hampshire’s divestment has been implemented. Other successes on this list represent votes calling for university divestment. 

2014: University of Michigan-Dearborn student government has overwhelmingly approved a divestment resolution

The University of Michigan-Dearborn student government has approved a divestment resolution, the night of March 28, 2014, by a very large majority of  17 to 5.

This follows a massive and intense University of Michigan campaign for divestment at the Ann Arbor campus. It drew hundreds of students to the U-M Central Student Government meetings, twice in a row, to press for divestment, for the liberation of occupied Palestine.

University of Michigan's Central Student Government is the scene of a divestment vote on Tuesday, March 18, 2014

"University of Michigan students have officially launched a divestment campaign in the student government"

http://palestinasummer.tumblr.com/post/79410963402/university-of-michigan-students-have-officially


University of Michigan students have officially launched a divestment campaign in the student government. A good number of students spoke up for that resolution March 11th in the Central Student Government.

The big meeting and vote will happen Tuesday, March 18th, 7:30 pm on the 3rd floor of the Michigan Union, 530 South State Street, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

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Follow the debate and vote count at #UMDivest

 

#BDS (boycott - divestment - sanctions against Israeli apartheid), to support Palestinian human rights.

Free Free Palestine.

The movement for divestment against Apartheid Israel -- at the University of Michigan:

"Palestinian activist urges University to divest from Israel"

MICHIGAN DAILY

(University of Michigan - Ann Arbor)
January 13, 2014

On the Web at: http://www.michigandaily.com/news/palestinian-activist-speaks-u

With a focus on universal human rights and activism, Omar Barghouti — a key member of the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel — received a standing ovation from those in attendance at his guest lecture in Hutchins Hall Friday night.

"The very basis of BDS is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in that, a very basic concept that has been forgotten to an extent: that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights," Barghouti said.

Barghouti, a Palestinian activist and commentator, explained BDS’s mission by focusing on what he said were oppressive Israeli policies, including a lack of access to education for many Palestinians...

...Students Allied for Freedom and Equality sponsored Barghouti’s visit to the University. SAFE collaborated with the Jewish Force for Peace and the Students for Justice in Palestine at University of Michigan, Dearborn to host his lecture.

The lecture followed last month’s controversy over #UMMockEviction, and a month after the American Studies Association and Association for Asian-American Studies endorsed an academic boycott of Israel.

“We are trying to generate some kind of action for the University to divest from companies that profit from Israeli occupation,” said LSA senior Yazan Kherallah, a SAFE member....

 

 

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Academic institutions "are increasingly endorsing boycotts against Israel's occupation"

"Palestinian activism grows at US universities:
"Despite heavy backlashes, academic institutions are increasingly endorsing boycotts against Israel's occupation"

AL JAZEERA
December 6, 2013

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/12/palestinian-activism-grows-at-us-universities-20131268268601383.html

"...December 4, the National Council of the American Studies Association (ASA) endorsed a boycott condemning the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians..."

"...a sort of backlash to the backlash is gaining momentum. Over the past couple years there has been an upsurge in pro-Palestinian human rights activism on college campuses across the US.

"In November 2012, UCI’s student council unanimously-and defiantly-voted in favor of the college pulling its investments from Israeli companies. In a matter of months, student councils at UC Berkeley, Riverside, and San Diego had done the same, and a bill that would have thwarted student action at UCLA, by placing a blanket ban on divestment measures at the school, failed."

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"Canadian Protestant church launches settlement boycott campaign"

Jewish Telegraphic Agency
December 6, 2013

http://www.jta.org/2013/12/06/news-opinion/world/canadian-protestant-church-launches-settlement-boycott-campaign

"Canada’s largest Protestant church launched a campaign to boycott goods made in the West Bank.
The United Church of Canada campaign, dubbed 'Unsettling Goods: Choose Peace in Palestine and Israel,' encourages 'economic action' against three Israeli companies: Keter Plastic Ltd., SodaStream and Ahava, which all have factories in the West Bank..."

 

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"American Studies leaders endorse Israel boycott..."

"American Studies Association leaders endorse boycott of Israeli universities"
Jerusalem Post
December 5, 2013
At: http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/American-Studies-Association-leaders-endorse-boycott-of-Israeli-universities-334042

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"American Studies leaders endorse Israel boycott, refer issue to members for vote:
"Boycott resolution was approved unanimously by the 20-member national council..."
Ha'aretz
December 5, 2013
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.561928

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"Big Win for Boycott Movement"
Inside Higher Ed
December 5, 2013
At: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/12/05/council-american-studies-association-backs-boycott-israeli-universities


The National Council of the American Studies Association announced Wednesday that it has unanimously endorsed a boycott of Israeli universities and other Israeli institutions -- and urged its members to vote to make the boycott official policy of the association.

The move by the council, even if awaiting approval by the membership, is seen as a major victory for the movement for an academic boycott of Israel. The academic movement to boycott Israel has considerable support in Europe, but has been largely opposed by major academic associations in the United States, citing longstanding objections to countrywide boycotts as antithetical to academic freedom. But in April, the Association for Asian American Studies became the first disciplinary group to endorse the academic boycott of Israel, and the American Studies Association now appears to be the second.

Supporters of the boycott have argued that just the discussion of the idea at a meeting as large as the American Studies Association marks a significant departure for American academe. A post on the pro-Palestinian site The Electronic Intifada said that the debate over the proposal indicated that "the taboo on boycotting Israel has been broken." And a piece on the same site shortly after the American Studies Association announced its decision Wednesday declared victory, saying that "the energy, the devotion, the compassion, the vitality [of the boycott movement] – all were palpable and invigorating, as was the sense that Zionist functionaries are now whistling past the cemetery."

Academics who support the boycott movement have been working for several years to build support within the American Studies Association to make such a move. At the group's annual meeting last month, there was heated debate on the boycott proposal -- with supporters arguing that the council should not hand the decision to the full membership for a vote. But at the time, the assumption was that setting up a vote would basically involve the association's leaders avoiding taking a stand on the issue.

Since the council called for a vote, but also urged members to endorse the boycott, the boycott supporters generally applauded the move. Most of those who spoke at the annual meeting were in favor of the boycott, but the council -- which met on the issue the Sunday before Thanksgiving -- held off on making a decision.

When it announced its decision Wednesday, the council offered strong support for the boycott. "The council voted for an academic boycott of Israeli institutions as an ethical stance, a form of material and symbolic action. It represents a principle of solidarity with scholars and students deprived of their academic freedom and an aspiration to enlarge that freedom for all, including Palestinians," said the statement issued by the association...


...What's Next?

Supporters of the boycott movement have talked about taking the proposal to other disciplinary associations -- and both the American Historical Association and the Modern Language Association (both of which share some members with the American Studies Association) have meetings coming up in January..."

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