An anti-Israel student group at Yale University has managed to advance a student vote on several measures against the Jewish state.
After collecting over 1,500 student signatures for the referendum items, the Sumud Coalition was able to force a vote by the Yale College Council. On Sunday, the student government’s senate voted in favor of a referendum with 17 votes, as well as 7 votes against, and 4 abstentions, according to The Yale Daily News.
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The referendum questions include “Disclosure of Investments in Military Weapons Manufacturers” — including those that supply Israel — “Divestment from Military Weapons Manufacturers,” and “Fulfilling Yale’s Mission of Educational Preservation.”
”In 2021, Yale disclosed a dollar estimate of its total investments in fossil fuel companies in response to the global climate emergency,” the first question reads. “Should Yale also disclose its investments in military weapons manufacturers and suppliers, including those arming Israel?”
”In the past, Yale has divested from companies linked to apartheid in South Africa (1978-1994), genocide in Sudan (2006), and mass shootings in the US (2024),” the second question states. “Should Yale divest from military weapons manufacturers and suppliers, including those arming Israel?”
The third referendum item that students will have the opportunity to vote on invokes Yale’s Mission Statement, stating that the the university is “committed to improving the world today and for future generations through outstanding research and scholarship, education, preservation and practice.”
”Given the widespread destruction of schools and universities in Gaza, should Yale act on its commitment to education by investing in Palestinian scholars and students?” the final question asks.
The student vote on these measures will take place from Dec. 4-8, according to The Yale Daily News. If the items receive both 50 percent “yes” and enough votes totaling one-third of the undergraduate student total, the Yale Council College will issue a letter to President Maurie McInnis “expressing the sentiments of the student body” and “[requesting] an official response.”
“The referendum is a really important way to demonstrate popular support for divestment from military weapons and investment in Palestinian studies, and it’s also an educational tool that will draw attention both on and beyond campus to the genocide in Gaza and to Yale’s complicity,” one student activist told the The Yale Daily News.
According to its Instagram account, the Sumud Coalition is a “coalition of students at Yale united for divestment and the liberation of Palestine.”
The group promoted the referendum announcement in a post yesterday.
”It’s on! More than 20% of the student body has signed on to the Books, Not Bombs referendum, and now it’s officially on the ballot,” the group writes.
”Already, 1,400+ students and 50+ groups agree: Yale’s trustees and administrators should fund scholarship, not scholasticide,” it continues. “But we know there are more supporters out there — and we can’t win without them.”
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
