The ASSU Senate ultimately voted against a revised bill proposed by Student for Palestinian Equal Rights (SPER), which would have pledged the Senate’s support in urging the Board of Trustees to reconsider investment in two companies that SPER believes violate human rights and international law.
The ASSU Undergraduate Senate voted Tuesday evening against a bill proposed by Students for Palestinian Equal Rights (SPER) urging the Board of Trustees to reconsider investments in companies that they said violate human rights and international law.
As the ASSU Undergraduate Senate prepares to discuss for the third straight week a bill put forward by Students for Palestinian Equal Rights (SPER) supporting selective divestment from Israel, SPER and the Stanford Israel Alliance (SIA) have both received outside statements of support from prominent individuals, including Nobel Prize winners and congressmen.
It seems like blasphemy to even ask this question, the sort of uneducated heresy more likely to be uttered by a student from that university across the Bay, but: Is Stanford evil?
Joining a nationwide movement currently involving 192 colleges, a group of Stanford students recently kicked off a fossil fuel divestment campaign on campus.
Members from the Stanford Students for Palestinian Equal Rights (SPER) and others formed a sit-down blockade starting at noon.
Today in White Plaza, the Stanford Israel Alliance celebrates the founding of the Jewish state of Israel, 64 years ago. We will not be celebrating Israel’s policies or borders, but rather its existence – the visceral manifestation of the Jewish right to a national homeland. May we one day soon be able to celebrate too a Palestinian Day of Independence, one which from that point forward will mark a peaceful future of self-determination and coexistence for all the peoples of the Holy Land.
Stanford is not removed from this debate; rather, our investments are actively serving to perpetuate this conflict, which harms all parties in the region.