Occidental Faculty’s board of trustees voted this week to not divest from corporations with ties to Israel, saying the transfer would additional divide the campus and restrict freedom of expression.
In a letter to college students, college and workers on Monday, Occidental Board of Trustees Chair Lisa H. Hyperlink acknowledged the devastating results of the Israel-Hamas warfare however mentioned that taking a place on a posh geopolitical scenario may alienate sure members of the group and undermine its variety.
“The variety of group members’ opinions was a compelling purpose to chorus from appearing on the proposal, because the Board believes a call in favor of the proposal could be divisive and damaging to the Faculty group,” she mentioned.
The divestment proposal set forth by leaders of the Occidental chapter of College students for Justice in Palestine in Might referred to as for the school to establish and disclose any investments in 4 manufacturing corporations which have offered arms and tools to the Israeli army.
The board mentioned Occidental’s endowment doesn’t embody direct investments in any of the 4 corporations. Oblique investments within the Israel-linked corporations make up lower than 0.1% of the school’s endowment property and are managed by third events that prohibit the school’s means to divest from particular elements of a fund, Hyperlink mentioned.
“The Board believes it’s not in the most effective pursuits of the Faculty, or our present and future college students, to jeopardize the endowment by divesting from managed funds which have minimal publicity to sure corporations,” she mentioned within the letter.
The board’s vote on the divestment proposal hinged on college students taking down their pro-Palestinian encampment, not impeding graduation and never returning to occupy an area on campus with out prior approval.
The board held the vote after Occidental’s college yr resulted in early June.
Matthew Vickers, a co-organizer of the encampment and spokesperson for Occidental’s College students for Justice in Palestine, mentioned he was disillusioned by the board’s determination however not stunned.
“Primarily based off of the strain from Zionist dad and mom and off-campus organizations such because the Brandeis Heart and [the Anti-Defamation League] and private political biases of the Board of Trustees, they caved in to rejecting divestment,” he mentioned.
The Louis D. Brandeis Heart for Human Rights Beneath Regulation and the Anti-Defamation League filed complaints with the U.S. Division of Training’s Workplace for Civil Rights in Might towards Occidental and Pomona Faculty, accusing the colleges of allowing discrimination and harassment of Jewish college students on their campuses.
Occidental Hillel directed inquiries to Director for Spiritual and Non secular Life Susan Younger, who declined to touch upon the board’s determination to not divest and the alleged antisemitism on campus.
Though the board’s vote got here after many college students had vacated campus for the summer time, Vickers mentioned college students who’re nonetheless in L.A. are planning to carry actions on and off campus to protest the board’s refusal to divest.
On UCLA’s campus, college students proceed to stage pro-Palestinian protests into the summer time, erecting a new encampment on Monday that resulted in about two dozen arrests.
“Individuals are nonetheless galvanized and prepared to proceed the battle,” Vickers mentioned.
