The Associated Students of UC San Diego (ASUCSD) removed a portion from a resolution calling for defunding university police that called for divesting from companies that conduct business in Israel.
The Triton, a student-run newspaper, reported that during the June 17 ASUCSD meeting, the resolution would have called for ASUSCD President Kimberly Giangtran to sign a petition calling on the University of California (UC) to abolish its police department and divest from Israel.
“We know the Minneapolis police were also trained by Israeli counter-terrorism officers,” the petition stated. “The knee-to-neck choke-hold that [Derek] Chauvin used to murder George Floyd has been used and perfected to torture Palestinians by Israeli occupation forces through 72 years of ethnic cleansing and dispossession.”
The majority of ASUCSD senators felt the divestment portion of the petition was too divisive and not germane to the issues facing the Black community on campus; instead, the ASUCSD passed on the resolution calling for UCSD to defund its police department and for the university to urge the UC police department to be abolished. The resolution also calls for the ASUCSD to work with the Black Student Union and Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion on issues of racism, and for the ASUCSD Office of External Affairs Minority Representation Caucus to document instances of racism and police brutality that occur at the university, according to The Triton.
The resolution passed with 28 votes in favor and one against.
AMCHA Initiative director Tammi Rossman-Benjamin said in a statement to the Journal, “It is truly sad that at a time when we should be coming together and uniting against hate and bigotry, some are exploiting the momentum around recent tragedies and using it as a vehicle to promote anti-Israel divisiveness and hate. Sadly, this happens on campus all too often. It is a deliberate effort directed by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel to have anti-Israel student and faculty activists use every opportunity to align themselves with meaningful causes while ostracizing and suppressing Jewish students and pro-Israel voices.”
She added, “Ultimately, these resolutions often result in increased anti-Semitism on campus, specifically the harassment and targeting of Jewish students. BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] is about bigotry, plain and simple.”
The petition initially launched on June 1, and various student groups signed it, including Students for Justice in Palestine and College Democrats chapters.
On June 9, Israeli national police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld tweeted that Israel does not utilize the knee-to-neck technique and has never taught it in its training programs with senior law enforcement officers from other countries.
UC President Janet Napolitano said in a June 12 interview with KQED that the UC system will not consider defunding its police department and will instead, aim to make its police more accountable.
“We want to make sure that our police are well-trained and are using best practices in terms of de-escalation and that complaints — when made — are handled properly, that there’s reporting and accountability, and that we have a system-wide use-of-force policy,” Napolitano said.
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