Northwestern Students Vote 24-22 for Israel Divestment
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
The Northwestern University student government passed a resolution calling on the university to divest from six corporations whose products are accused of being used by Israel to violate Palestinians’ human rights.
The resolution was voted on by the Associated Student Government Senate early Thursday morning after more than five hours of debate, the student newspaper, the Daily Northwestern, reported.
The resolution passed with 24 votes in favor, 22 votes against and three abstentions.
The senators cast their votes by secret ballot, which was called for by the Senate speaker so that student senators could feel comfortable casting their vote, the Daily reported.
The resolution sponsored by the campus student organization Northwestern Divest asks the university to divest from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Hewlett-Packard, G4S, Caterpillar and Elbit Systems.
It is not known if the university is invested in any of the companies named since it does not make its investments public. The resolution also asks the student government to form an “investment transparency task force.”
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