Hampshire College Divests From Israel

Hampshire College in Massachusetts is believed to be the first American college to divest from companies that support Israel, the JTA reports.

The board of trustees of the Massachusetts college approved a proposal on Feb. 7 that would divest school assets from an investment fund found to include 200 companies that violated the college's standards for social responsibility. Violations included unfair labor practices, environmental abuse, military weapons manufacturing and unsafe workplace settings.

The proposal resulted from a review of the college's investments conducted at the urging of a student group, Students for Justice in Palestine.

According to the student group, six companies deemed to be complicit in the Israeli occupation were included in the divestment. They are Caterpillar, United Technologies, General Electric, ITT Corp., Motorola and Terex.

But the Jerusalem Post reports that the college, which was the first American college to divest from South Africa over apartheid, has denied divesting because of the Israeli-Arab conflict.

In a "statement of clarification" sent by [Hampshire's Director of Communications Elaine Thomas] to The Jerusalem Post on Thursday evening, the college's president, chairman of the board of trustees, and dean of faculty insisted the decision to divest from State Street had been made because the fund had been found by an outside consultant to hold stocks in "well over 100 companies engaged in business practices that violate the college's policy on socially responsible investments. These violations include: unfair labor practices, environmental abuse, military weapons manufacturing, and unsafe workplace settings."

The statement acknowledged that the Board of Trustees' initial review of the college's State Street holdings had been based on a complaint by Students for Justice in Palestine about six companies doing business in Israel.

But the college's top leadership insisted the "decision expressly did not pertain to a political movement or single out businesses active in a specific region or country. No other report or interpretation of the actions of February 7, 2009 by the Hampshire College board of trustees is accurate."

Comments

[Trial Lawyer]

04:29 PM on 02/26/2009

As it turns out, the students were lying. There was no divestiture related to Israel.

[JerryG1]

05:55 PM on 02/15/2009

The beginning of another anti-apartheid movement?

At the very least, the fruit of conscience.

Congratulations to the young minds, for paying attention, having moral bearing, taking action.

And to the adults, for listening, for courage, for taking action.

[nowarpleez]

03:15 PM on 02/15/2009

I applaud their courage!

[moAb]

09:21 AM on 02/15/2009

...obsequious obiter dictum...twisted logic...knee-jerk resopnses...hate speech in disguise...

[betz55]

12:28 AM on 02/15/2009

This is just the beginning. YES !

Why don't we put it to vote and see how many Americans and world citizens want to continue supporting the US and the world's biggest welfare client, Israel ?

Divest, sanction, and boycott Israel. Stop all aid to Israel. Now.

[mginla]

09:16 PM on 02/16/2009

Yes, lets. Hmmm, here's the most recent data:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3368650,00.html (data from a Gallup Poll).

63% of americans SUPPORT israel. And Israel gets very high poll ratings for being a "vital ally". Because most recognize that Israel share's american values, is the lone stable democracy in the middle east, and is the pretty much the only country in the middle east that allows freedom of speech and equal rights for women and gays. They know that the US can rely on israel as an ally more than pretty much any other nation on earth. They are a country that is (justifiably so) held to western norms of behavior, but surrounded by enemies who a) don't care about western norms of behavior as they pertain to using civilians in battle and suicide bombings and b) want to wipe israel off the map (see Iranian remarks, see Hamas's charter).

And as far as all of this Divestiture stuff - to claim that there isn't any anti-semitism is ludicrous. If Hampshire had decided to divest from all companies doing business with Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other countries with horrific human rights records (and records of killing 1000s of muslim and other civilians), then you'd have an argument.
If they'd rather side with the death-cult ideology of Hamas, Iran, and other terror groups and totalitarian regimes obsessed with the destruction of Israel, fine. But to claim its about 'justice' is absurd.

[max08]

03:10 PM on 02/14/2009

What does the JPost know about it? Go to the Hampshire SJP Web site. This is a student movement, as was the 1977 divestiture form South Africa. An Israeli student is one of the organizers.

Why are you quoting the JTA and JPost? They did not create the news. Those kids did. And you can watch why they did it on videos uploaded to philipweiss.org..

[LeeCalif]

10:54 AM on 02/14/2009

If Israel is the reason , great ! If there's another reason, great !

Those are both very good reasons !!

[Horst]

06:55 AM on 02/14/2009

Naive collegiate Americans. Let's face it the college's endowment probably has collapsed and many of the parents of the students are looking for work. I guess it makes them feel better...they won't have to fight or sacrifice in any meaningful way.

[zukervati]

08:50 PM on 02/13/2009

The last time I checked, it wasn't a privilege but a right. Need I say more!!

[SergeantRoss45]

08:39 PM on 02/13/2009

This is great news, there needs to be more awareness on our part as Americans. We know whats right and whats wrong, and support for this state is un-American.

[thruthseeker]

08:26 PM on 02/13/2009

Obsession...A condition that usually has a person fixating on one subject to the exclusion
Of everything else. At its root , Jealousy is the main trigger, followed by envy , anger, and then uncontrollable rage .

[sticksnstones]

10:37 PM on 02/13/2009

Gosh ... who woulda thunkit ?? All this time I thought it was a perfume ....

Thanks, perfesser.

[fredgladys]

03:50 PM on 02/13/2009

It is interesting that many supporters of Israeli actions in Gaza immediately rush to the lines 'you're anti-semitic' , or, 'you must support Hamas' if anyone disagrees with their comments. This is lazy logic and just dosen't work.

[4foldvision]

03:15 PM on 02/13/2009

I love to hear comments from Americans protesting Israel's "theft of land". What a short-sighted, ahistorical, perspective to be trumpeted by those living on the blood-stained soil of the Cherokee, Navajo, Apache, Chickasaw, etc... The lack of self-reference in understanding the context of a human conflict is appalling and dangerous. While the fact that atrocious human rights abuses have occurred throughout history does not justify their further perpetuation, I find that the issue of Israel's security policy imbibes many on the American Left with a certain zeal that hints at ulterior motives. We are only sixty years removed from the last attempt at "the final solution," the current generation of Israelis grew up under constant threat of being blown to pieces by a suicide bomber, and those in sdirot and ashkalon have lived recently under constant rocket attack from gaza. Is the Israeli government extreme in its dealing with the Palestinians? Certainly. But it must be remembered that for them there is very little middle ground, it's an issue of survival. An issue many Americans are in no ways acquainted with. Thus to cast such judgement from an Ivory Tower built of indigenous bone is not only hypocritical, possibly malicious, and in most cases ignorant; but plays right into the propaganda put forth from the seats of Islamist power who are more than happy to scapegoat the Palestinian people in order to further their Jihadist agenda.

[RobotRockRod]

04:33 PM on 02/13/2009

So basically, because of our dirty past and terror that jews faced in history, we are not allowed to criticize/analyze or disagree with action Israel takes?

Even if we sincerely think they are counterproductive or criminal?

From the "Ivory Tower" with no "ulterior motive" I say a crimes are committed we must speak about and against it. When our friends are acting in ways that clearly does'nt help them or us, we should say so. When you're using our money to do whatever, we have a right to say whatever(For or Against)

If you seriously think "the left" secretly wanna see a Genocide, you're sadly mistaken. We're anti-War(do everything and everything to avoid it as much as possible). Use the "little" Middle ground you have, cuz you're disturbingly starting to act like the monsters you're fighting.

[kudzumaster]

04:42 PM on 02/13/2009

So since I'm Cherokee, it's okay to say that what Israel is doing is disgusting. Right?

[squander123]

07:12 AM on 02/14/2009

Don't get your hopes up, kudzumaster. When Jews disagree with Israeli actions, they're labelled 'self-hating'. It's a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose logic at work here...

[charliedontsurf]

01:54 PM on 02/13/2009

The fact is that SJP sacrificed the moral high ground when they fought to have Hampshire divest soley from Israel and not institute a sweeping review of all investments in companies and countries that were in violation of the board's investment policy. As a former Hampshire student, I was extremely alienated by this group's narrow-minded efforts to divest from the State Street fund, as mentioned above, was invested in approximately 100 entites that violated the socially responsible investment strategy of the school. To so is both logically and morally untenable. While I am in fundamental agreement with the basic goals of this group--to exert financial pressure on Israel to make their political and military strategies in Gaza/West Bank untenable--the manner in which SJP pursued their aims was at best disgusting, counteproductive, and in total violation of basic civility. I can personally attest to hearing members of this group calling those who refused to participate in their activities "elite racists" and "murderers." While I am aware that this is in no way representative of their group as a whole or in any way codified in their charter (if they even have one), it is a hyper-reactive quality that is endemic among immature campus activist groups, particuarly my alma mater. But I digress...In the end, I would have gladly participated and lent my support to this effort if it had been an attempt to totally clean house, as opposed to a reductionist and vitriolic campaign.

[sticksnstones]

02:59 PM on 02/13/2009

It seems to me, Charlie, that your sole argument is that the voices for change offended your sense of decorum. All that unrestrained emotion, in your world, has no place among the ivy-covered quads. There are times when it is the DUTY of an engaged, informed electorate to cast aside decorum and SCREAM BLOODY MURDER to effect change in policy. This is one of those times.

[charliedontsurf]

03:37 PM on 02/13/2009

Sorry sticks, it seem to me that you did in fact miss my argument. My beef is with the fact that SJP ignored Hampshire's investment in some 100 companies that violated it's ethical investment policy and instead soley focused on 6 companies involved in Israel. Now I understand that you're going to counter with this being a Palestinian movement, not one for universal social justice and equality. Fine. But it is ethically and morally untenable to say that Hampshire should divest from 6 companies engaged in Israel/Palestine bc it violates Hamp's investment policy and register no complaints about the approx. 94 other companies that in are in violation of that same policy.

I only mentioned my personal interactions with this group as a means of illustrating how if SJP had employed a more comprehensive, inclusive approach that sought more commond ground, people such as myself would have actually participated, as opposed to standing on the sidelines of our "ivy covered quads." In fact, by belitting me in this fashion, you just proved my point. Unfortunately, youre on a blog right now, not the streets, so I happen to think its perfectly reasonable to adhere to a certain level of civility when having a RATIONAL and RESPECTFUL argument. But frankly, anyone who thinks that it is productive to call me a racist bc I disagree with their organizations tactics is already beyond that point.

[Freenation]

01:04 PM on 02/13/2009

Right move...this should happen more unless and until corrupt Israeli politicians stop killing of civilians for the excuse of their own securities...