[Peace-discuss] Daily Illini items re Israel/Palestine, BDS, etc.

[David Green]

As mentioned on today's News from Neptune:

DI blurb on referendum:

The only referendum that failed 3,133 to 1,700 reads as follows: Shall the
University divest, or withdraw investments, from specified companies in the
University’s BlackRock portfolio that actively normalize, engage in, or
fund human rights violations as defined by the United Nation’s Universal
Declaration of Human Rights?



DI Letter from Cary Nelson et al.:

Last month student senators listened attentively to two hours of public
comment from UIUC students and faculty. The topic: should there be yet
another referendum on this spring’s ballot about whether the university
should divest from companies doing business in Israel? That issue was
widely debated on campus last year, and the referendum was soundly defeated.

Although people spoke on both sides of the issue, on one point speakers
from both sides agreed. Jewish and Palestinian students alike testified
that they felt harassed and threatened by the hate speech the campus debate
generated. Campus discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be
civil, but contests to win a forthcoming vote often are not. Competition
aimed at obtaining a victory involves passions of a different character.

At the student government meeting, referendum advocates made their strategy
clear: they were going to reintroduce the referendum year after year. A
clear expression of student opinion opposing it in a democratic vote didn’t
matter. They were not giving up.

That strategy has already been followed on other campuses, sometimes with
annual votes taking place for a decade. Arguing over a divestment
resolution as a result crowds out every other topic — from tuition levels,
to class size, to loan programs — that students care about and where their
advocacy can make a difference.

On divestment, a campus vote amounts to empty symbolism. No Board of
Trustees is going to let students, faculty, or staff decide investment
policy. Investment policy is a Board fiduciary responsibility. A broad
brush condemnation of a series of companies, moreover, simply invites Board
dismissal.

Divestment is actually a complex subject that gets confused and falsified
by the resulting tweets and posters and slogans. Some companies that do
business on the West Bank actually make Palestinians’ lives easier, but
they are nonetheless targeted for protests. A number of companies do not
sell directly to Israel. They sell to the US Defense Department, where
Israel makes approved purchases, drawing on funds appropriated by the US
Congress. What would happen to a US company that told the Pentagon it would
have to approve the Defense Department’s customer list? Many targeted US
corporations have offices and headquarters in Illinois. They offer
internships to UI students. They hire students’ parents and relatives. Such
companies have reason to expect fair and specific engagement from UI
groups, not uniformed condemnation.

Yet at the campus student government debate last month, companies in all
these categories were basically accused of war crimes. That is not a
carefully reasoned position. National BDS web sites target any company,
among others, that sells to the Israeli army, including companies that sell
shoes and binoculars, even when the same models are marketed to civilian
consumers here and abroad.

The University has important research collaborations with Israeli faculty
members and their institutions. It has study abroad programs for students.
Academic freedom provides that students and faculty have the right to
pursue those options. The same Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)
movement that promotes divestment urges universities to eliminate all those
relationships. It even says faculty members should refuse to write letters
of recommendation for students wanting to study in Israel. The local and
national groups that endorse divestment endorse those demands as well.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is among the important topics that should
be studied and discussed on campus. But a divestment debate is not a good
way to do so. There are courses offered in our institution that encourage a
critical approach to studying Israel and Palestine. These engage in nuance
and context, providing students the opportunity to learn in detail. By
contrast the rhetoric surrounding the divestment debate can be shallow,
informed by simplistic slogans.

We do not need another acrimonious divestment debate at UIUC.

Faculty Signatories:

Brian F. Allan, Entomology

Ilana Redstone Akresh, Sociology

Richard S. Akresh, Economics

May Berenbaum, Entomology

Jeffrey R. Brown, Dean, College of Business

Nigel D. Goldenfeld, Physics

Diane Gottheil, Medicine

Rachel S. Harris, Comparative Literature

Richard Herman, Chancellor emeritus

Richard L. Kaplan, Law

Deborah Katz-Downie, Plant Biology

Michael H. Leroy, Labor & Industrial Relations

Cary Nelson, English

Gene E. Robinson, Entomology

Jacqueline Ross, Law

Richard J. Ross, Law

Paula A. Treichler, Media & Cinema

Paul M. Weichsel, Mathematics

Reprinted from The Daily Illini, with additional names added.
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