Stanford College officers on Monday rejected a request from scholar activists to debate divesting from corporations with ties to Israel.
Not less than 12 college students and three school members started a starvation strike this week to strain the college to sever monetary ties with corporations they are saying are linked to the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
“The university does not intend to negotiate in response to your demands,” Affiliate Vice Provost and Dean of College students Michele Rasmussen wrote in a letter to Stanford College students for Justice in Palestine, which the group posted publicly Tuesday.
Regardless of the college’s response, the group stated the starvation strike would proceed and is predicted to develop. A spokesperson stated organizers anticipate a “large influx” of recent individuals and volunteers, permitting for “waves of strikers to join in subsequent weeks.”
The size of every participant’s quick will depend upon their particular person well being and medical steering, the group stated.
The starvation strike additionally requires native authorities to drop felony expenses towards scholar protesters, for Stanford to repeal just lately enacted campus speech restrictions, and for college President Jonathan Levin to signal a nationwide tutorial freedom assertion.
“They are aware that their students are putting their health at stake because of Stanford’s insistence on investing in genocide and repressing students for dissenting,” the activists stated in a press release.
In declining to barter, Stanford spokesperson Luisa Rapport pointed to an October 2024 determination by the Board of Trustees’ Particular Committee on Funding Duty, which had reviewed a proposal to divest from corporations linked to the Israel Protection Forces.
“Just as the university does not take positions on partisan or political issues, the Trustees maintain a strong presumption against using the endowment as an instrument to advance any particular social or political agenda,” the board stated in a press release on the time. “It (the decision) further provides that the Trustees ‘may choose to take no action on a request if an issue is divisive within the campus community.’”
The starvation strike follows months of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus.
On June 5, 2024, 13 people — together with a scholar journalist — had been arrested throughout a sit-in on the college’s administrative places of work. Santa Clara County District Lawyer Jeff Rosen later filed felony vandalism expenses towards 12 college students, citing property harm between $360,000 and $1 million. California regulation defines felony vandalism as inflicting greater than $400 in harm.
“Dissent is American. Vandalism is criminal. Speech is protected by the First Amendment. Vandalism is prosecuted under the penal code,” Rosen stated in saying the fees.
College students arrested within the June 2024 protest have additionally confronted administrative sanctions from Stanford, together with two-quarter suspensions, delayed commencement conferrals, and group service necessities.
Stanford has drawn criticism from a number of sides over its dealing with of the protests. One college subcommittee reported widespread anti-Israel and antisemitic bias on campus. One other discovered that Islamophobia and prejudice towards Muslim, Arab and Palestinian college students had been additionally prevalent.
College students from California State College campuses — together with San Jose State, Sacramento State, San Francisco State, and CSU Lengthy Seashore — are taking part in their very own starvation strikes.
Whereas Stanford has not but shifted its funding coverage, divestment campaigns have succeeded elsewhere.
The College of San Francisco earlier this month dedicated to divesting from protection corporations tied to Israel after scholar strain. San Francisco State College has already pulled its investments from 4 weapons producers in August, and Sacramento State turned the primary public California college to divest from corporations that “profit from genocide, ethnic cleansing, and activities that violate fundamental human rights” in Could 2024.
Although the Stanford administration has declined to fulfill protesters’ calls for, the group stated it would proceed to use strain, launching a letter-writing marketing campaign and planning further actions.
“Stanford doesn’t even want to listen to its students and faculty, who are now resorting to the last tactic possible in hopes that Stanford finally takes any action,” the group stated. “We have decided to continue our hunger strike until Stanford negotiates and takes action on our demands.”
