Oberlin College’s Students for a Free Palestine sent out the following press release today:
Oberlin Students Vote for Divestment
Victory in Students for a Free Palestine’s Divestment CampaignOberlin, OH: In a historic moment on Sunday May 5th, Oberlin College Student Senate voted to divest from a set of 6 companies that profit from the occupation and oppression of Palestinians. Oberlin College Students for a Free Palestine (SFP) presented a resolution calling for divestment and a supporting petition. After a three-hour plenary, Student Senate voted by majority to support the resolution with several modifications.
“We are thrilled that this resolution has passed. We’re proud that our senate has decided to stand on the side of justice,” says Lucia Kalinosky, OC ‘13, a member of SFP.
This is a major milestone in SFP’s Oberlin Divest campaign, which follows the principles of the 2005 Palestinian Call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS). Next semester, SFP will take their resolution to the Oberlin College Board of Trustees’ Finance Committee, which will determine if Oberlin adopts the financial policies outlined in the resolution.
Oberlin’s divestment campaign provides students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members with an opportunity to raise the cost of the Israeli government’s human rights violations in a non-violent initiative to effect change. It has been endorsed by Oberlin’s Responsible Investing Organization, Student Labor Action Coalition, Mexican American Students Association, La Alianza Latina, South Asian Students Association, Oberlin Queer Wellness Coalition, Edmonia Lewis Center for Women and Transgender People, and Multicultural Resource Center.
Oberlin SFP specifically calls for Oberlin College divestment from Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar, Veolia, Elbit Systems, G4S, and SodaStream. These six companies represent a wide range of injustices perpetrated on the Palestinian people by Israel. By endorsing the resolution, Oberlin College will join a growing global movement for justice in Israel/Palestine. This resolution comes on the heels of similar resolutions at UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, and Brown University.
Four modifications were made to the resolution by the Senate. First, “Palestinian Territories” was defined as The West Bank, The Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. Second, the Palestinian BDS Call was removed from the stated reasons for divesting. Third, a clause stating that the list would be updated to include other companies doing similar actions was removed, and senators asked SFP to write a detailed plan forming a committee to update the list, which will be voted on in the fall. Finally, senates added the word “directly” to the clauses giving criteria for divestment.
“The Palestinian people called on all people of conscience throughout the world to take action to advocate for justice,” says Hannah Elhard, OC ‘13. “By voting for divestment, Oberlin lives up to its progressive history and reputation.”
Awesome news.
Oberlin was a center of the abolitionist movement, as early as the 1830’s.
Again, we see the Asian students coming forth big time, particularly South Asian. The Latino associations, too. But where are the black student unions on this issue? I had the same question last time, during the historic Berkeley decision.
Indifference or is something else at play?
Also, another thing on the Asian angle. The motion given to the American Asian Studies Association was being created by a South Asian and pushed by, initially, by the South Asian caucus within that group.
And on the Berkeley vote, about half of the senators were of East Asian descent. All but one voted for Israel.
And here too, the South Asian groups rallied behind the efforts but no East Asian groups are seen.
Hmm.
Looks like Israel is gonna have to start cloning Hans Brinker (ironically this legend is made up)
Fantastic news and well done to the local student group Students for a Free Palestine, hope their next move in the following semester is also successful.