Columbia Students to Consider Divestment Referendum Targeting Israel This Weekend
Shiri Moshe
The Algemeiner
Fri Mar 08 2019
Columbia University student leaders will consider on Sunday a proposal to hold a campus-wide referendum on divestment from Israel.
The ballot initiative is being brought forward to the Columbia College Student Council (CCSC) by the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Columbia/Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) clubs, which last spring spearheaded a successful referendum asking the Barnard College student government to call for divestment from eight companies that “profit from or engage in the State of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.” The measure was later criticized and rejected by Barnard President Sian Leah Beilock.
A previous attempt to pass the referendum at Columbia was voted down in 2017 by a margin of 26-5 and one abstention, with opponents criticizing its divisive language....
