SAN DIEGO (Press Release) — StandWithUs has congratulated students at SDSU for defeating a student-wide referendum calling for divestment from companies doing business with Israel. The referendum, which occurred from April 6-9, 2015, was defeated with a vote of 1701 (53%) in favor and 1510 (47%) against. A two-thirds majority was required for the measure to pass. Only 10.7% of SDSU’s roughly 30,000 undergraduates voted on the issue.
We commend Students Supporting Israel (SSI), AEPi, Hillel of San Diego, and other members of the SDSU community for working tirelessly to educate their peers about the bigotry of BDS and the damage divestment would cause to their university. They defeated the referendum despite being outnumbered by anti-Israel campaigners on campus, their opposition committing several campaign violations, being silenced by pro-BDS professors when they tried to speak out against BDS in classrooms, and suffering a surge in vicious anti-Semitism on social media while the vote was happening.
“We overcame a lot to defeat BDS at SDSU this year,” said SSI President and StandWithUs Emerson Fellow Sarah Katularu. “We faced a lot of hate, our opposition used underhanded tactics, and many students were misled about the true nature of divestment. Nevertheless, we were able to educate a large new audience about Israel and how divestment undermines hopes for peace and justice in the region.”
*
Preceding provided by StandWithUs
*
__________________________________________________________________
Care to comment? We require the following information on any letter for publication: 1) Your full name 2) Your city and state (or country) of residence. Letters lacking such information will be automatically deleted. San Diego Jewish World is intended as a forum for the entire Jewish community, whatever your political leanings. Letters may be posted below provided they are responsive to the article that prompted them, and civil in their tone. Ad hominem attacks against any religion, country, gender, race, sexual orientation, or physical disability will not be considered for publication. There is a limit of one letter per writer on any given day.
__________________________________________________________________