The Associated Students of the University of California, Riverside (ASUCR) are currently facing pressure from UCR administration to overturn the SR-W24-005. Otherwise known as ASUCR Boycott and Divestment from Israel and Corporations Complicit in the Ongoing Genocide in Gaza, this bill was passed on Feb. 23, 2024, in what ASUCR described as their “largest senate meeting in years.” 

The senate heard 37 individual statements from students, faculty and alumni expressing concerns for and against the bill. The statements included appeals from Palestinian students and concerns of anti-Semitism raised on behalf of Hillel. The vote that followed passed the bill with a unanimous 15-0-0 result.

Courtesy of Senna Omar, Editor-in-Chief / The Highlander

The bill itself details the set of corporations, taken directly from the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement list, from which purchases for student events will not be reimbursed. BDS is a global protest movement which encourages and organizes mass boycotts of brands and corporations that invest money, aid Israel, or invest in organizations that associate with Israel. 

The intended outcome of these organized boycotts is to peacefully pressure the corporation into withdrawing their support for Israel. In light of recent conflict in Gaza, Israel has been declared responsible for Apartheid by the World Court, and the United Nations experts declare ‘reasonable grounds’ that genocide is being committed in Gaza.

Concerns about the bill ranged from worries of a rise in anti-Semitism on campus to the worry of how quickly the legislation was created and passed. The first speaker of the meeting, on behalf of the campus organization, Hillel, raised concerns that “[the] resolution came into being less than a week ago.” The contents of the bill itself came largely from the bill of the same intention passed at the University of California, Davis. Because of this, the bill was able to come into being a lot faster than it otherwise would have. According to Senator Haidar, the creation of the bill took a “few weeks” since “[they] had a lot of those materials prepared for us.”

Courtesy of Senna Omar Editor-in-Chief / The Highlander

Recently, ASUCR made a public announcement on their official Instagram account calling for the support of the students in the face of new pressure on the already approved bill. On Nov. 18, the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs (VCSA), Brian Haynes, sent an email out to leaders of student organizations claiming they will not be implementing senate bill SB-W24-012. The bill adds the Ethical Spending Clause into the ASUCR Bylaws, voted in unanimously, 15-0-0.

ASUCR called the attempted overruling an attempt to “undemocratically removing our bill,” calling for students to join them in emailing the VCSA and asking him to retract his statement and respect the authority of the ASUCR.

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