Santa Cruz Students Back Israel ‘Occupation’ Divestment by 22-14 Vote

California Screaming: Students at UCLA debate Israel divestment move as the BDS fight continues to rage across the Golden State.

By JTA June 5, 2014

The University of California, Santa Cruz student government passed a resolution calling for divestment from companies involved in alleged human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank.

The non-binding resolution calls on the university to divest from companies that including Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and General Electric which profit from alleged violations of international law and human rights abuses against the Palestinians on the part of the Israeli government. The resolution was passed on May 28.

The Santa Cruz Committee for Justice in Palestine brought the resolution to the UC Santa Cruz Student Union Assembly.

A student activist opposed to the measure said he felt it was not a student-led effort.

“The notable difference I saw was that people speaking against the resolution were, with one exception, current students,” Jesse Barush told j. Weekly. “On the other side, there was a large number of [former] students. This is an undergraduate student assembly supposed to represent undergrads at Santa Cruz. It’s not a place for somebody who graduated 40 years ago.”

The 22-14 vote came weeks after a similar resolution was narrowly defeated at U.C. Davis.

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