BREAKING NEWS BULLETIN: Rutgers New Brunswick Students to Vote on Divestment from Israel
The Struggle on Campus intensifies
The Rutgers Student Assembly has “unanimously passed a resolution to add two referendums related to economic divestment to ballots for the Spring 2024 Assembly elections… The first of the two Spring 2024 referendums asks voters whether they believe the University should terminate any of its investments in firms that have a connection to Israel's actions in the Israel-Hamas War… The second referendum asks voters whether the University should sever ties with Tel Aviv University.”
“For both questions, voters can vote "yes" or "no" as well as opt not to respond… The outcome of the vote is contingent on two factors: if any response receives a majority vote, and if at least 10 percent of the University's undergraduate population casts their ballots for each option.”
These referendum, if passed will not result in the University immediately divesting from the companies. However, it will result in the RUSA advocating “for any response that meets these qualifications and receives an affirmative majority.” The presence of this question for Rutgers student voters was celebrated as a win by the Rutgers Endowment Justice Coalition, which describes itself as “a coalition of Rutgers organizations advocating for an endowment fund that ISN’T invested in Israeli apartheid.”
One person who is not happy about this turn of events is the Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway. The email is very confusing, because he begins by saying that he doesn’t want to appear to support either side, and thus bias student voting; before immediately condemning the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement. Holloway followed up this email by attending the RUSA’s weekly town hall meeting, where he answered questions that had been pre submitted via a google form. The ECJ called on it’s members to submit a list of four questions. The event was not recorded, and none of our reporters attended so it is impossible to know how it went. However, we will keep our ears to the ground. If you have any information about the Town Hall, please let us know
