Undergraduate Senate votes against divestment bill

At their March 5 meeting, the ASSU Undergraduate Senate voted against a selective divestment bill proposed by Students for Palestinian Equal Rights (SPER) after three weeks of contentious debate on the subject. The Senate also voted in favor of a resolution written by senators urging students to discuss divestment in other forums.

Though the Senate announced last week that they were done discussing divestment, more than 100 students packed into the Senate room to further debate the issue, spilling into the hallway and carrying signs with slogans such as “Free Palestine” and “Vote for Justice.”

The bill, which was first put forward by SPER co-president Omar Shakir ’07 J.D. ’13 at the Feb. 19 Senate meeting, called for the Senate to recommend that the Board of Trustees reconsider certain endowment investments, with Shakir identifying eight specific companies that allegedly “commit human rights abuses and violations of international law.”

However, his presentation was met with backlash from representatives of various student groups, who claimed that Shakir’s presentation contained historical inaccuracies and that the bill was a veiled attack on Israel.

http://www.stanforddaily.com/2013/03/05/undergraduate-senate-votes-against-divestment-bill/