"April 28, 2016
"To the Advisory Committee on
Socially Responsible Investing and President Bollinger,
"In 1784, the Columbia community
renamed King’s
College in order to speak to the independence of the nascent U.S. American
nation-state. Columbia University emerges from a historical moment that, to
this day, continues to structure and inform our
relations to this land and its original peoples, the Lenape Nation. Leading
up to that moment and to this day, Columbia University has been invested in the
practices of settler-colonial occupation.
"We are students representing Columbia University Apartheid
Divest, a campaign launched by Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine
and Barnard/Columbia Jewish Voice for Peace. We call on the University to
divest its stocks, funds, and endowment from companies that profit from the
State of Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian human rights
through its ongoing system of settler colonialism, military occupation, and
apartheid. This campaign directly responds to a choice made by Palestinian civil society to
call for international solidarity.
"Our demands carry the voices of over
a thousand community members, including 601 undergraduate students, 190
graduate students, 103 alumni, 75 faculty, and 12 staff members, who have
attached their name to our petition, as well
as the expressed endorsement of
the following groups representing a diversity of Columbia community members:
Barnard-Columbia Socialists, Columbia Divest for Climate Justice, Columbia
Muslim Students Association, Columbia Queer Alliance, Columbia University Black
Students’ Organization, Columbia University Turath, Divest Barnard from Fossil
Fuels, GendeRevolution, No Red Tape, and Student-Worker Solidarity.
"We are writing to you, knowing of
and trusting in President Bollinger's
stated vision of Columbia as a "Global University." In order
to uphold a commitment to this vision, the trustees and administration must
fulfill their role not only by accepting students from all over the world, but
also by taking a stand against regimes that violate basic human rights and the
structures by which they are supported. This call extends to Columbia
recognizing its past and present role as a colonial institution, one that was
built through
the practice of slaveryand one that continues in a city founded on
broken treaties, and its present complicity in gentrification and
displacement through its rapid
expansion into Manhattanvile. Given Columbia’s recent divestment from the
US private prison system, we are encouraged by the precedent our University
community has set by denouncing racial profiling and disproportionate standards
of prosecution.
"Our institution should not be considered separate from those
affected by and complicit in Israeli
human rights violations; impacted communities include students, academics,
people of color, indigenous people, religious and gender minorities, refugees,
Israelis, and Palestinians both in Palestine and its diaspora. Columbia's
investment in corporations that profit from Israeli apartheid has communicated
to us that the fundamental dignity and worth of these communities is not the
priority of this university.
"We are also writing to you in
recognition and respect of your mission and commitment to socially responsible
investment. By investing in companies such as Caterpillar, Hyundai
Heavy Industries, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Elbit Systems, Mekorot, Hapoalim,
Boeing, and Lockheed Martin, Columbia actively supports Israel’s violations
of international law. The University profits from the illegal
military Occupation of the West Bank and the Golan Heights and Siege of Gaza,
the destruction of Palestinian homes and construction of illegal settlements, the
restriction of freedom of movement and the surveillance and policing apparatus
that is the Apartheid wall, the
theft of Palestinian resources, and the unequal
treatment of Palestinians under the law.
"One such company in which the
University is directly invested is Doosan Infracore co. Ltd., whose products
include construction equipment used to build at least one illegal settlement in
the West Bank, the Leshem
settlement. Doosan also owns the Bobcat Company,
whose machinery was used in the construction of
the apartheid
wall and multiple security checkpoints along the wall. Other
University investments show us that divestment from human rights violations is
not only moral, but can also be economically
successful. The University is currently directly invested in CRH PLC, a
corporation which chose
to divest from Israel in 2015. CRH has reported a strong
post-divestment growth in profit, highlighting the feasibility of making
socially responsible and still profitable investment decisions.
"The Advisory Committee's annual
reports indicate a continued commitment to ensure that the University's
investments meet specific social and moral standards. Your audits of these
investments with respect to the private prison industry are a commendable
instance of this commitment. We believe that this commitment also requires
consideration of the human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories of the
West Bank and Gaza, abuses associated with and perpetrated by companies in
which we may be invested.
"In light of this, faculty members
across various departments presented a proposal in 2002 calling for an end to
our investment in all firms that supplied Israel's military with arms and
military hardware. Students, alumni, faculty, and staff all agreed to attach
their name to the 2002 proposal, hoping that our institution would end their
complicity in Israel's use of asymmetrical and excessive violence against
Palestinian civilians. In the 14 years since this proposal was rejected, Israel
has ramped up its violence towards these civilians and its illegal settlement
practices to levels unimaginable, even in 2002. We thus call upon you now to
not only hold our university to a higher moral standard, but to consider
Israel's apartheid system in all its forms, including those that do not involve
the direct use of the State's military apparatus, but nonetheless severely
violate the rights of Palestinians and the prescriptions of international law.
"In asking for divestment, we join a
growing international movement that has heeded the Palestinian call for
solidarity. Already, the
Presbyterian Church of the United States has divested from Motorola
Solutions, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, and Caterpillar. The
United Methodist Church and the World Council of Churches have followed suit in
divesting from other companies complicit in Israeli apartheid. Student bodies
in the University of California system (Berkeley, Irvine, Riverside, San Diego,
Santa Cruz, Los Angeles), Loyola University, University of Chicago,
Northwestern University, the University of South Florida, and Stanford
University have supported divestment. Students and workers at neighboring
institutions such as City University of New York and New York University have
voted to support divestment. In this context, we demand:
"1.
More transparency
regarding Columbia’s investments. Columbia University has failed to make
available and accessible the 10% of its investments (direct holdings) to which
the public is entitled knowledge. Additionally, information about the region
and sector of the full endowment, and remaining 90% (indirect holdings), should
be made available to all members of our community in the spirit of transparency
and mutual accountability to which the University should be held pursuant and
for which the ACSRI was created.
"2.
That research be done
on all holdings (direct and indirect) in order to determine if they are
complicit in Israeli practices that are illegal under international law.
Furthermore, we request the public availability of this research, in pursuit of
a socially responsible commitment to transparency and neutrality.
"3.
That the University
immediately divest from such companies and make a public statement confirming
divestment. Columbia must adopt a negative screen for these companies, to
confirm that Columbia will not invest in these companies until they cease their
operations in and profits from Israeli apartheid, or until the State of Israel
dismantles its apartheid wall and occupation, promotes the rights of
Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality, and allows Palestinian
refugees to return as demanded by the larger Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions solidarity movement in which our campaign is embedded.
"We would like to meet with President
Bollinger and other heads of the administration in order to discuss the double
standard posed by the dissonance between Columbia's ideals and its current
investment in Israeli settler-colonialism. Columbia University Apartheid Divest
looks forward to engaging with your Advisory Committee in person and commencing
this process.
"Columbia University Apartheid Divest"
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