A Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution passed the New York University (NYU) Student Government Assembly (SGA) on Thursday night by a margin of 35 in favor, 14 against and 14 abstaining.
The resolution, titled “Resolution on the Human Rights of Palestinians,” called on NYU to divest from Caterpillar, General Electric (GE) and Lockheed Martin unless “they have put in place policies designed to ensure that none of their products are used by the State of Israel in the violation of human rights.”
The resolution passed under a secret ballot, with 51 NYU student groups and 34 faculty members supporting it. The resolution got two more votes than the 33 required for it to pass.
“This resolution is for the human rights of all,” Alternate Senator-At-Large Leen Dweik said at the meeting. “We want to know that our tuition money is not being spent to kill brown people across the world.”
Following the passage of the resolution, NYU spokesman John Beckman said in a statement the university is against the resolution because the university thinks their “endowment should not be used for making political statements” and it would also be impractical to implement.
“Our endowment assets are invested through independent financial managers who operate funds in which our assets are co-mingled with others’,” Beckman said. “NYU cannot unilaterally direct those fund managers not to select certain companies’ stock. Our only choice – potentially a very costly one – would be to liquidate assets in a time of considerable market volatility, which would be incompatible with the endowment’s primary purpose: generating income to support NYU’s academic mission now and in the future.”
Myriad pro-Israel groups denounced the resolution.
“It is deeply disappointing that SGA passed a resolution that is so one-sided and discriminatory,” Ron Krudo, executive director of campus affairs at StandWithUs, said in a statement. “I’m proud of the students who worked so hard to stand up for themselves, in the face of a fundamentally undemocratic student government process.”
NYU pro-Israel group TorchPAC wrote on Facebook that the “process” in passing the resolution was “unfair and systematically silenced our community and our voices, which enabled the passage of this resolution.”
“At the meeting, falsehoods went unchecked, rules of order were not followed, and only seven members of our community were able to speak, for approximately two minutes each,” TorchPAC wrote.
The group added, “We will continue to show support for pro-Israel students on this campus and be a strong voice against hate. Our community is strong and united. This resolution will not change that.”
NYU student group Realize Israel echoed TorchPAC in a similar Facebook post, writing: “Our community has been silenced time and time again, and tonight was no different. While their side had over 48 minutes of allotted time to discuss the nine page bill, our side had 12, a mere fourth.”
“As we light the candles of the fifth night of Hanukkah, we remember that there will always be a glimmer of hope and light will always overcome darkness,” they added.
