University Of Illinois, Ohio State Reject Divestment Measures
(JTA) — Students at the University of Illinois and Ohio State University voted down measures urging their schools to divest from companies complicit in Palestinian human rights violations.
The Illinois referendum was rejected late last week by a margin of 56.8 to 43.2 percent, according to media reports. The Ohio State measure failed by a vote of 4,084 to 3,843.
The Illinois referendum called for divestment from more than a dozen companies allegedly complicit in Palestinian human rights violations, including ExxonMobil, Hewlett-Packard and General Electric. The Ohio State measure named five companies.
In a statement Sunday, the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago welcomed the referendum’s failure, which it credited to a student group, United Illini for a United Campus, that campaigned against the measure.
“Students made their voices heard and said together that divisiveness and anti-Israel bias have no home at their university,” the statement said. “Our Illini Hillel will not deviate from the core mission of enriching the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!