Many delivered statements to the Senate in regard to the divestment legislation with the issues discussed resonating throughout the hundreds present. One speaker engaged the audience on their perception. “I’m gonna do a little something that’s not very traditional. Raise your hand if for the past, let’s say since October, you’ve seen at least one photo of something or someone that you cannot even recognize as a human being. Raise your hand if you’ve read a list with thousands of names on it that had thirty names from the same family. Raise your hand if you had a conversation about someone and they expressed to you how little they can do here in the West. [Almost] everyone in this room is raising their hand.” Image via Senna Omar / The Highlander
The Associated Students of the University of California, Riverside (ASUCR) Senate voted Thursday to pass divestment legislation, a measure championed by dozens of organizations, clubs and student advocates on campus. This would restrict ASUCR funding by establishing a guideline for ethical spending to put pressure on the state of Israel and show support for those in Palestine. The legislation follows a precedent set by the student government at the University of California (UC) Los Angeles and UC Davis (UCD) who both voted to support BDS resolutions, meaning that UCR is the third UC student governing body in the system to divest.

 

The unanimous vote, 15-0-0, came in an emotionally charged ASUCR Senate meeting that drew hundreds of attendees and dozens of speakers for public forum. Supporters of the legislation filled HUB 302 North, which was expanded during the meeting to fit capacity. Alumni, faculty, graduate and undergraduate students voiced their support of the legislation, drawing from personal stories, historical precedent and appealing to senators’ morality. 

“I implore you, I no longer want to be complicit in the bombings of my family,” expressed Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) President Hibah Nassar, who has family in Gaza. “We demand our senators to vote ‘yes.’”

SR-W24-005, entitled, ASUCR Boycott and Divestment from Israel and Corporations Complicit in the Ongoing Genocide in Gaza, “seeks to address the human rights violations of the nation-state and government of Israel and establish a guideline for ethical spending.” The legislation bases its guidelines on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which lists companies to boycott “in an attempt to pressure the Israeli government to abide by international law and put an end to its genocidal and apartheid policies.” Through this resolution, “no ASUCR funds shall be committed to the purchase of products” from the BDS List. 

The resolution calls for collective action to “advocate for a halt to such grave violation of human rights” in Gaza taken by Israel. It also cites various scholars and practitioners who have “applied definitions of concepts such as “genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and occupation to the situation within Palestine.” The document takes note of UC policy that prohibits discrimination and accuses UCR administration of having “refused to condemn or recognize its complicity in Zionist settler colonialism, genocide and apartheid.”

“This is a larger movement beyond UCR. We are not targeting the Jewish community and UCR. We are not promoting anti-semitism,” says CNAS Senator Leila Hadar of the divestment legislation, pictured left, which she is a primary author of. “We are partaking in a large-scale, peaceful political protest against a government that is enacting human rights violations. And a government is not representative of its people. We are not targeting the Jewish people. We are targeting the Israeli government and the Israeli military. And those things should not be conflated … This is not targeting Jewish students, it is critiquing a government” Pictured from left to right are CNAS Senator Leila Haidar, SPP Senator Naia Pizarro, BCOE Senator Anjana Narasimhan.
Image via Mamata Elangovan / The Highlander

The legislation faced opposition from Hillel, a student organization on campus. Naum Yankelvich, secretary of the club, and second-year biology major, spoke on behalf of the organization during the meeting. The day after the meeting, he shared that “The goal [of speaking during the meeting] wasn’t to make it so that the resolution doesn’t pass. It was just to get it on the record that this resolution came about in a very un-ASUCR-like way. We found out about [the legislation] less than a week before the vote.” From his perception of the process, Yankelvich claimed that “[the legislation] apparently was created less than a week before the vote.”

For Hillel’s next steps, they plan on “going to try and talk to school officials who would be responsible for going through with that resolution and the next steps of the bureaucracy. We’re going to try to talk to them and voice our concerns. Hopefully, further down the line [the legislation] gets shut down.”

Dozens of speakers commented in support of the divestment legislation. Many shared stories expressing the personal impact of the issues discussed. Multiple speakers shared accounts of family members losing their lives in Gaza. Another speaker shared the impact the conflict has had at home, “my mother and father, who are the most important people in my life, have completely physically and mentally shut down, watching the horrors happening to their families.”
Image via Senna Omar / The Highlander

While concerns were brought up about how long it took for the bill to be drafted and presented to the ASUCR Senate, Senator Haidar explained that “there is no baseline typical timeline of a resolution or bill because it depends on what the resolution and bill is for.” She elaborated, in the case of this divestment legislation, “a lot of the content of the resolution and bill came almost directly from UC Davis. So that is why it may seem like a shorter timeline because we had a lot of those materials prepared for us.” Due to the previous legislation drafted and approved by UCD, it meant that “a good portion of [the resolution] was already completed.”

Prior to the legislation being brought to the Senate during the ASUCR meeting, it was approved by the Legislative Review Committee of ASUCR on Friday, Feb. 22, 2024 at 3 p.m. In regards to the length of time it took to create, edit and review the legislation, Senator Haidar shared that it took a “few weeks.”

Due to ASUCR’s nature as an autonomous organization on campus, they have the ability to have their own governing documents and act without interference from administration on campus, as long as it is legally allowed and abides by campus policies. Senator Haidar claimed that she “[doesn’t] think administration had any power in telling us what to do or how to operate when it comes to things we do internally.”

Many other on-campus organizations such as Muslim Student Association (MSA), Young Democratic Socialists for America, Providing Opportunities, Dreams and Education in Riverside (PODER), had the opportunity to share support of the resolution as secondary authors. According to Senator Haidar, Hibah Nassar, her co-author in the bill, reached out directly to different organizations on campus and explained to them what the resolution entailed for their clubs and organizations. She elaborated on the information that Nassar provided, claiming that, “there was a lot of transparency involved … that’s why we made such a point of reaching out to clubs and orgs directly to ensure that this is something that they support.”

Throughout public forum, speakers in support of the divestment legislation argued against perceived critiques of the legislation. Mohamad Almouazzen (pictured), UCR alumni and former ASUCR Chief Justice asserted, “There may be concern that your support over this bill will be misconstrued as an anti-Semitic act given that its target is the state of Israel. However, I ask you to rationalize how slippery slope it would be to not punish any genocidal regime on the misguided basis that the actions of a government represent a global faith. In the same manner with which we rightly condemn the Islamic Republic of Iran for its abuses without worrying about Islamophobia, to condemn the Israeli state for its abuses is not anti-Semitic.”
Image via Senna Omar / The Highlander

Some students were confused by the information presented by the resolution and were unsure of what it entailed. A few were confused as to whether the resolution would extend to administration. Others wondered if it meant that the divestment would be applied immediately. Senator Haidar clarified, “the biggest misconception of the bill is that this will apply to administration. As much as I, as an ASUCR representative, would love to have our diverse voices heard to that extent, and demand action from administration. This is separate.” 

The legislation would apply only to ASUCR funding, so any funding a club or organization on campus receives from ASUCR would be impacted. This includes grants or allocations they received from ASUCR. While this is the case, the legislation will not go into effect overnight. By spring of 2024, ASUCR will create a new policy to set guidelines on the matter of ethical spending and maintain a list of boycotted vendors and corporations, notify student organizations and clubs prior to the adoption of these policies and then implement the policy by fall of 2024.

In a statement released March 1, 2024, the day after the Senate meeting,UCR administration voiced their opposition to the Senate legislation. “This resolution runs counter to UC Riverside’s longstanding position and practices, does not align with the university’s views, and does not affect the investment practices of the university. We strongly oppose this action and believe that it goes against the culture of open dialogue and discourse.”

Some Jewish speakers voiced support of the legislation. Ph.D. student Linton Freund (pictured) stated, “I am also a Jewish American and I’m a grandchild of a Holocaust survivor. I have heard too many times tonight, at our local city Council meeting, by our government, by faculty that Zionism is the same as Judaism. That blindly supporting a government that is funding and perpetuating genocide against an entire group of people is what is required for Jewish safety. I am here to tell you that that is wrong.” Another Jewish speaker, graduate student Aaron Goodwin, vocalized, “Israel is less than 100 years old, they do not represent Jewish people … Look at the news, they’re killing people. I mean, it’s heartbreaking. To say that that represents Judaism is such a horrifying, disgusting lie.”
Image via Senna Omar / The Highlander

Senator Haidar expressed that ASUCR expected a response like this from the University in regard to the bill and resolution. “We were of the understanding that administration was not going to be on our side. And this is not something that we are going to be able to reason with administration prior to its passing.” Due to this sentiment, it made it a necessity for ASUCR to “show that this is something the students wanted.”  Senator Haidar points out how “we had around 500 students at that Senate meeting. We know that this is something that the student body wants.”

Similar to UCR News, Hillel, on their Instagram page, released a statement sharing that they are “deeply disappointed that ASUCR voted to adopt a hateful resolution that demonizes Israel and further targets and marginalizes the Jewish community at UCR. Antisemitism has no place in our community, and we are offering support to all students impacted by the decision.”

However, Senator Haidar shared her sentiment that “This is not a resolution to incite hate. This is not meant to be hateful or to incite any kind of anti-Semitism or discrimination in any way. I would not sign my name on this, if I thought this was anti-Semitic.”

 

TOP LEFT: Multiple UCR faculty, graduate students, and alumni spoke in support of the divestment legislation. Pictured is Associate Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, Setsu Shigematsu.                                                                                                                                                                                      BOTOM LEFT: Throughout the duration of the meeting, the audience had exhibited restraint in their expression, and most occasionally finger snapped in support. Any cheers or exclamations were quickly hushed by other audience members. However, as the Senate announced a unanimous vote in favor of the divestment resolution, and soon after the accompanying bill, the crowd erupted in exuberant celebration and chants of support. During public comment afterward, SJP President Hibah Nassar (pictured center) expressed her gratitude. “I extend my deepest gratitude to ASUCR for passing divestment … Thank you, you guys made history tonight. My family thanks you back home. Thank you for standing in support of your students, I appreciate you. On behalf of every student that came here today, thank you.”                                    RIGHT: ASUCR as an organization was a focus of conversation during public forum. Senate intern Sophia (not pictured), speaking on behalf of herself and not ASUCR, appeared overcome with emotion while addressing the Senate.  “You talk about people getting involved, well here they are now. They are here to tell you to vote ‘yes’ on this legislation. They are here to tell you that they want ASUCR to be better. They want you to make ASUCR something they can be proud of.”                                                                                                                                                                             Images via Senna Omar / The Highlander

 

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