Columbia University BDS Referendum Fails

A boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) referendum at Columbia University failed to reach the two-thirds threshold needed to pass.

According to the Columbia Daily Spectator, 20 members of the Columbia College Student Council (CCSC) voted against the March 10 referendum, 17 voted in favor of it and one, CCSC President Jordan Singer, abstained.

Nineteen students watched the four-hour long session inside the Jed D. Statow room, while at least 130 other students followed the live stream in an overflow room. The session was also streamed on Facebook, via the Students Supporting Israel (SSI) Columbia’s Facebook page.

The referendum, spearheaded by Columbia’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), would have allowed students to vote on whether or not to support the university divesting from companies that conduct business with Israel. A similar referendum was overwhelmingly approved in April 2018 by students of Barnard College (an independent private liberal arts women’s college that partners with Columbia).

During the CCSC session, a student who identified herself as Marla, argued on behalf of JVP that passing the referendum was necessary to help foster a dialogue on campus on whether divestment was necessary to support Palestinian rights.

“If [universities] pulling money out of corporations that are profiting off crimes and profiting off illegal activity that Israel is doing, that, in turn, can pressure Israel to end some of those activities,” Marla said. She argued that ending Israel’s “occupation and colonization of Arab land” is among the BDS movement’s goals.

Orit Gugenheim, president of Aryeh: Columbia Students Association for Israel argued before the CCSC that the referendum is “bigoted” toward Jewish students and oversimplifies the complex nature of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

“Last time I stood before you, after the [October 2018 Tree of Life] Pittsburgh shooting, you voted to support the Jewish community,” Gugenheim said. “Jewish students felt safe because CCSC stood with them. I beg of you to do the same tonight.”

Ofir Dayan, president of Columbia’s Student Supporting Israel (SSI) chapter, said the university doesn’t make its investments publicly available, so there is no way to know if Columbia is actually investing in companies that conduct business with Israel.

“This proposition seems to be another way of targeting some students on this campus and not simply a suggestion to change Columbia’s investment portfolio,” Dayan said. “And when I say pro-Israel students, I don’t mean people who support a certain government or policy, I mean people who just support the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their homeland.”

She added that SJP and JVP’s mantra of “from the river to the sea (Palestine will be set free)” is an example of how the student groups engage in “the complete de-legitimization of the state of Israel. The existence of the Jewish people in Israel, maintained with such tenacity for thousands of years, is not something to apologize for,” Dayan said.

Student Sarah Senkor said that when the BDS referendum passed at Barnard, she “did not feel safe walking around wearing my Jewish star like I had for the past 2.5 years.”

Council members CCSC Vice President for Finance Adam Resheff and Representative for Disabilities Services Aaron Liberman, threatened to resign from the council if the CCSC approved the referendum.

“If, in this room we recognize the divisiveness of posing this question, why would we then, as a council… put a question that we know will cause students to feel attacked?” Resheff said, adding that the referendum would cause irreparable damage to the climate on campus.

The council decided to vote on the referendum via a secret ballot, after several council members said they were concerned they would face personal attacks over the matter. Singer announced she would abstain from voting to maintain her impartiality.

After the referendum failed, pro-Palestinian students chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” outside the room.

“We defeated the bigoted and anti-Semitic BDS proposition in Columbia College Student Council last night,” SSI Columbia said in a Facebook post. “Thank you for all those who worked hard to make it happen and for those of you who supported us along the way.
Justice won. Truth won. Israel won.”