The recent condemnation by Pomona College administrators of a unanimous student government vote in favor of BDS is nothing other than an abuse of institutional power to bully undergraduates who took a principled stand for social justice.

Pitzer College’s governing council voted March 14 to suspend a program in Israel for the same reason US institutions ended collaborations with Apartheid South Africa in the 1980s. Pitzer President Melvin Oliver’s veto of the resolution not only harms Pitzer but harms Palestinians and Jewish Israelis, as it blocks a material contribution to expanding the possibility of justice and peace for all, Pitzer Professor Daniel Segal writes.