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| Image from http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/2010/03/boycott-divestment-and-sanction-israeli-apartheid-week-carleton-
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The divestment proposal tabled in March 2011 by UVM's Socially Responsible Investing Work Group states:
"BE IT RESOLVED, that the Socially Responsible Investing Work Group (SRIWG) recommends University divestment from companies contractually involved in, and directly profiting from, the Occupation, by supplying products or services to the Israeli military and/or Israeli settlements in Palestine."
Full text of the proposal is at:
http://www.uvm.edu/~istokes/divestment-proposal.pdf
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In March of 2011 the Socially Responsible Investing Work Group (SRIWG) held a public hearing about the proposal to divest from companies contractually involved in, and directly profiting from, the occupation of Palestine by supplying products or services to the Israeli military and/or Israeli settlements in Palestine. This proposal was endorsed by UVM Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and supported by 524 student signatures. Subsequently the proposal was tabled by the SRIWG, and the SJP (www.sjp-uvm.org) continues to work for its adoption.
We understand that the divestment proposal received broad support in the SRIWG, and suspect that its tabling resulted in part because of pressure from the President's office. In January 2012 a former UVM President was quoted in an article "College Leaders Balance Israel and Speech" in the Jewish Daily Forward http://www.forward.com/articles/149684 as stating "I think divestment from Israel would have been a travesty. To me it would have been an expression of anti-Semitism." This statement is completely wrong on both counts.
(1) The proposal was to not to divest from Israel. Rather, it was to divest from companies (primarily US companies) that provide support for the illegal occupation and illegal settlements. It is an appeal to align UVM investments with International Law and with UN Resolutions, and consistent with UVM's statement "Our Common Ground"
http://www.uvm.edu/~presdent/?Page=miscellaneous/commonground.html
(2) The suggestion that the divestment proposal is anti-Semitic was absolutely repugnant and insulting, suggesting that the originators and supporters of the proposal are racist. We challenge anyone to identify anything in the proposal that is anti-Semitic. Surely the SRIWG would not have advanced this proposal to a public hearing had they identified anything racist in it, so this accusation of anti-Semitism was also insulting to all the SRIWG members. Requests the President and the 'Daily Forward' to retract the above statement went nowhere.
In the 1980s UVM eventually joined the international outcry against apartheid in South Africa, despite strong opposition at presidential and Board of Trustees levels.
(see the video put on YouTube by Professor Nancy Welsh 'UVM Apartheid Divestment, Part II': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gv_zg-M-GA&feature=related
and also the UVM SJP event held 1st March 2012 for the 8th annual Israeli Apartheid Week "Struggles Against Apartheid - Past and Present" - video at http://vimeo.com/37977250 )
It has been really inspiring to see large numbers of UVM people, especially students, getting involved and pressing for justice for Palestine. Until now, UVM has missed an opportunity to take a principled stand on divestment, and will continue to profit financially from the illegal occupation and illegal settlements. The campus divestment movement will continue to strengthen until all parties comply with international law and norms of human behavior as detailed in UN resolutions, the Geneva Conventions and the International Court of Justice. UVM should be a leader, not a straggler in this struggle.
Students for Justice in Palestine was recognized as a UVM organization
by the Senate of the Student Government Association on 3rd May 2011.
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