Columbia’s student council postpones BDS referendum due to coronavirus
Melissa Weiss
Jewish Insider
Wed Apr 22 2020
A BDS referendum at Columbia University originally slated for this month has been postponed until the fall semester due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Background: The decision to hold a spring referendum was determined during a November student government vote, after the motion failed to garner enough support in the spring of 2019. The referendum was slated to be tied into broader student government elections, originally scheduled for April 4-8. The university switched to remote learning on March 11, leaving the school’s student council elections up in the air as administrators and students made arrangements to leave the campus, which is in the U.S. epicenter of the pandemic.
Executive decision: The decision to postpone the referendum was announced late last week. In a statement released Friday, the Columbia Elections Commission and the Columbia College Student Council Executive Board said that holding the referendum while the campus is empty would deprive students of the opportunity to engage in discussions about BDS in the lead-up to the vote....
