Despite vicious, intense campaigning against it by Israel and its lobby groups in the US, the Israel divestment referendum wins majority vote among DePaul University students! Student coalition DePaul Divest declares victory in campaign calling for student support to divest from corporations that profit off of human rights abuses against Palestinians. DePaul is among the largest private universities in the US, and arguably the largest Catholic university there.
Students celebrate victory of DePaul divestment resolution. (DePaul Divest)
SJP DePaul press release
DePAUL DIVEST DECLARES VICTORY IN STUDENT CAMPAIGN
CHICAGO – Following two months of campaigning at DePaul University, student coalition DePaul Divest declares victory in a campaign to divest from corporations that profit off of human rights violations perpetrated against Palestinians via the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine.
While a majority of divestment campaigns have been carried out through student government resolutions, DePaul Divest opted to pose the question of divestment to the entire DePaul student body through a Student Government Association (SGA) referendum this week.
With a majority of 1,575 votes in favor and 1,333 against, it is clear that Palestinian human rights, the rights of minorities within Israel and ethical investment are issues that concern the DePaul student body.
This victory did not come without immense outside interference by pro-Israel lobbyist group StandWithUs, whose paid staff frequently presented themselves as individuals affiliated with DePaul University, canvassed the student body in a counter campaign to DePaul Divest.
“Scare tactics were used to deter the student body from voting to affirm the human rights of Palestinians, but our victory today is evidence that this was not enough to stop DePaul students from standing on the side of justice,” said campaign organizer Areej Hamdan.
In the days leading up to the student vote, members of the opposition circulated false rumors and misinformation about the DePaul Divest campaign, despite the clarity and transparency of the movement’s goals.
This misinformation was addressed in an 18 May DePaulia article, “DePaul Divest speaks out: No more intimidation, no more misinformation.”
These tactics were not enough to halt the momentum of the divestment movement, whose actions this week grabbed the attention of the university community through a sit-in, flag drop and rally.
The presence of the Israeli consul general on campus during the last full day of voting did not silence DePaul Divest supporters, who rallied on campus under his gaze. Harassment and intimidation tactics used by the anti-Divestment canvassers (many of whom are admittedly trained by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or work as StandWithUs employees), like taking photographs of student organizers, proved incapable of impeding the success of the DePaul Divest campaign.
“We have proven that the DePaul student body is a socially conscious community, one that recognizes the humanity of the Palestinian people and how their basic human rights have been denied at the hands of the Israeli government and these corporations we target” said student organizer Hamdan.
While the passage of this referendum is not binding on the administration, the SGA is prohibited from passing resolutions in the upcoming school year that contradict the results of the referendum.
DePaul Divest organizers will now turn their attention to working with the DePaul administration in moving forward with implementing divestment from these corporations. Working with the Fair Business Practices Committee, DePaul Divest organizers will encourage the university administration to establish investment screens. This will require that the human rights record of each potential investment is investigated, making ethical investment a priority and requirement for the university’s money managers.
“It is clear that DePaul students do not wish to have their tuition dollars invested in weapons manufacturers,” said student organizer Roya Naderi.
This has generated discussion on ethical investment on campus, with students in agreement that DePaul University should not be invested in war profiteers.
While campaigning at the university is now over, divestment does not end here. This is a moment in which the student body has taken a stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, long denied of their basic human rights. The passage of this divestment referendum is a step towards removing the university’s complicity in the occupation of Palestine, and is a step towards establishing a standard of ethical investment practices at DePaul University.
DePaul Divest is a coalition of students, student organizations, staff, faculty and alumni that call on the DePaul University administration to pull its investments from corporations that profit off of the illegal occupation of Palestine and the human rights abuses these companies help perpetuate. For more information, visit dpudivests.org.
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DePaul Divest speaks out: No more intimidation, no more misinformation
By Hanna Alshaikh and Leila Abdul Razzaq
In recent weeks, DePaul Divest organizers have received word that malicious rumors are being spread about the campaign via word of mouth on campus. As student campaign organizers and members of SJP, we are deeply troubled by many of the allegations being made against DePaul Divest. We recognize these allegations as a campaign of misinformation that is meant to delegitimize the DePaul Divest campaign, and as such, we feel that there is a growing need to address them. The following is a list of false statements that have been circulating about the DePaul Divest campaign. It is our hope that this article will clear up any misconceptions regarding the nature of the campaign.
Accusation: DePaul Divest has fabricated the university’s investment in the twelve companies listed, which profit from Israel’s human rights violations.
There is clear evidence that DePaul University is invested in the twelve corporations we have targeted. DePaul University releases quarterly financial reports, which are available to all DePaul students, staff and faculty on the Financial Affairs section of DePaul’s website. The last few pages of the quarterly report, entitled “Endowment,” lists all of the mutual funds that comprise DePaul’s endowment. The holdings of these mutual funds are public information and easy to Google. Perusing a few of these mutual funds, we have identified the twelve multi-national corporations that profit from Israel’s human rights violations, which DePaul is invested in, and which we call on them to divest from. These corporations are all listed on our website. Because the mutual funds that DePaul invests in are so enormous, and because there are so many of them comprising the endowment, the twelve corporations we have managed to identify could very well be just the tip of the iceberg.
Accusation: If the DePaul Divest referendum passes, it will cause all Jewish student organizations to lose funding and they will therefore cease to exist on campus.
This is not true by any means. We have absolutely no intention of attempting to cause Jewish student groups to lose their funding, and if a movement to remove or cut funding to these groups were to arise, we would vehemently and actively oppose it. Our campaign calls only for the removal of twelve specific, multi-national corporations that profit directly from human rights abuses from DePaul’s endowment. The outrageous claim that we intend to cut funding to Jewish organizations is a blatant lie, and one that is made without any evidence whatsoever. This tactic of fear mongering has been employed as a last ditch effort to delegitimize an ethical, non-violent and rights-based social justice movement on our campus.
Accusation: The DePaul Divest campaign “is more anti-Semitic than anti-Zionist” (Quoted from a claim made by a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi in a May 13 DePaulia article.)
SJP and DePaul Divest unequivocally reject anti-Semitism, just as we reject anti-Palestinian bigotry,Islamophobia, racism, ableism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and all other forms of hate. We do not conflate Judaism with Israel’s human rights abuses, and we reject that idea that criticism of Israeli government policy is anti-Semitic. The claim that it is stems from the false conflation of Judaism with Zionism. Not all Jewish people are Zionists, and not all Zionists are Jewish. Many Israelis and Jews actively oppose Israeli human rights violations, just as American citizens often oppose the actions of the US government. Israeli organizations like Boycott from Within resist the occupation of Palestine, while international organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace advocate for a just peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike — one which recognizes the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people: The right of return for Palestinian refugees as stipulated by UN Resolution 194, full equality for Palestinians within Israel, and the end to occupation and apartheid.
Accusation: The DePaul Divest campaign denies Israel’s right to exist and defend itself. (Pulled from a claim made by a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi in a May 13 DePaulia article.)
We do not deny the right of Israel to exist or defend itself. We do deny that Israel has some sort of right to blatantly defy basic standards of international law, or that it can commit egregious human rights abuses without impunity. Acts perpetuated by the Israeli government, which violate international law, are well documented by human rights groups like B’Tselem. What’s more, our campaign is not a debate on Israel’s right to exist, what should ultimately happen in Israel/Palestine, or a be-all end-all solution to the problem. DePaul Divest is simply a coalition of students that asks our university community to stop funding human rights violations.We are concerned with our own complicity in these human rights violations, and challenging this complicity is the goal of our campaign.
The facts here are simple: Our university is invested in corporations that profit off of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. That means we, as students at this institution, are complicit in human rights violations. A vote to divest is a vote to affirm the human rights of Palestinians, which are routinely and systematically denied by the state of Israel. It affirms not only Palestinian human rights, but also universal standards of human rights, which Israel must abide by, just like any other country.
Above all, we must ask ourselves: “Why are we, as a university that is supposedly committed to Vincentian ideals and social justice, invested in weapons manufacturers and human rights violators in the first place?” It needs to stop. Policies must be implemented that ensure socially responsible investment practices. The time to divest is now.
Authors’ note: DePaul Divest is an initiative of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). It is a growing coalition of sixteen student organizations that urges students to vote ‘yes’ to divest from corporations that profit directly from Israeli human rights violations. Students have the opportunity to vote on this issue during Student Government Association (SGA) elections, which are being held this week.
Source: The DePaula