Community Engagement on Divestment
(Update 2/5/15: We closed our feedback form at the conclusion of our Divestment Town Hall Wednesday night. We are working to incorporate your feedback into our final resolution. In the interim, please view the current copy of the resolution below.)
Link to Revised Resolution
Link to Revised Resolution
A Resolution to Divest from Companies Violating Human Rights in Occupied Palestine
WHEREAS the Stanford University Code of Conduct states the university’s commitment “to ensure we fulfill our legal and ethical obligations… to persons outside of Stanford,”
WHEREAS in managing university investments, Stanford University Trustees have a fiduciary responsibility to consider both financial risk and “substantial social injury,” defined as “proximate corporate direct or indirect actions that cause injury to… individuals, or groups… [and] violat[e], subver[t], or frustrat[e] enforcement of rules of domestic or international law intended to protect individuals and/or groups against deprivation of health, safety, basic freedoms or human rights,”
WHEREAS Stanford University has a rich history of calling for ethical oversight of its endowment as a non-violent strategy towards social change, which has included divestment from companies violating human rights in South Africa and Sudan, the adoption of criteria pertaining to conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and divestment from coal mining companies following last year’s fossil free divestment student campaign,
WHEREAS multinational corporations disproportionately conduct business in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as compared to other conflict areas (e.g. Syria or North Korea), where binding law often prevents engagement with human rights violators,
WHEREAS many of the same companies that profit from the illegal infrastructure of occupation, collective punishment, and political repression in the Occupied Palestinian Territories also profit from state violence against communities of color within the United States,
WHEREAS a review of Stanford’s recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings demonstrates past direct investments in corporations like Raytheon[1] that are implicated in such violations of international humanitarian law, indicating that Stanford’s investment portfolio is likely to include similar companies,
WHEREAS investment in these companies shows implicit support for such violations, and the only way to achieve financial neutrality is to end our investment in such companies,
WHEREAS selective divestment, as in the context of South Africa and Sudan, does not seek to determine a political solution nor target a particular ethnic or religious community, but rather the actions of a set of multinational corporations that facilitate human rights abuses and violations of international law,
WHEREAS our peers at many university student associations, including Wesleyan University, Oberlin College, DePaul University, Evergreen State College, UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UCLA, and UC Davis have passed resolutions calling for divestment from companies that violate international law and human rights in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories,
WHEREAS the petition asking Stanford’s Board of Trustees to selectively divest from companies that violate international law and human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has been signed by over 1000 students and 18 Stanford student groups, including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Students for Alternatives to Militarism (SAM), the Asian American Student Association (AASA), MEChA de Stanford, Stanford National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Stanford NAACP), Black Student Union (BSU), Student And Labor Alliance (SALA), Stanford Asian American Activism Committee (SAAAC), Muslim Students Awareness Network (MSAN), Pilipino American Student Union (PASU), Arab Students’ Association at Stanford (ASAS), First Generation Low Income Partnership (FLIP), International Socialist Organization at Stanford (ISO), Stanford Students for Queer Liberation (SSQL), Stanford American Indian Organization (SAIO), Islamic Society of Stanford University (ISSU), Pakistanis at Stanford (PaS), and Stanford University Students for UNICEF (SUSU),
WHEREAS these companies’ actions affect the Stanford community directly, including students whose families live under occupation, and thus attend an institution complicit in violence against their own communities,
WHEREAS the Associated Students of Stanford University has been authorized “to exercise major privileges and responsibilities” with the express purpose of “[encouraging] responsible citizenship and the exercise of individual and corporate responsibility on the part of students,”
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Associated Students of Stanford University Undergraduate Senate, acting under representative authority of the undergraduate student body:
THAT the Associated Students of Stanford University calls upon the Stanford University Trustees to divest from companies that violate international humanitarian law by:
THAT the Associated Students of Stanford University Undergraduate Senate calls upon the Stanford University Trustees to withdraw investments in securities, endowments, mutual funds, and other monetary instruments with holdings in Veolia Transdev, Caterpillar, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Combined Tactical Systems, G4S, and all corporations that are similarly complicit in violating these criteria, until these companies are no longer engaged in the violation of human rights and other behavior deemed unethical by the Stanford community,
THAT if Stanford University endowment funds are found to be invested in any of the aforementioned companies, the Associated Students of Stanford University calls upon Stanford University to divest all stocks and securities of such companies, at such time and in such manner as to be determined by the Board of Trustees with the goal of maintaining the divestment until they cease these specific practices,
LET IT FINALLY BE RESOLVED that the ASSU calls upon our university to dissociate itself from systematic oppression by divesting from companies that participate in human rights violations against our communities in the United States and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
WHEREAS in managing university investments, Stanford University Trustees have a fiduciary responsibility to consider both financial risk and “substantial social injury,” defined as “proximate corporate direct or indirect actions that cause injury to… individuals, or groups… [and] violat[e], subver[t], or frustrat[e] enforcement of rules of domestic or international law intended to protect individuals and/or groups against deprivation of health, safety, basic freedoms or human rights,”
WHEREAS Stanford University has a rich history of calling for ethical oversight of its endowment as a non-violent strategy towards social change, which has included divestment from companies violating human rights in South Africa and Sudan, the adoption of criteria pertaining to conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and divestment from coal mining companies following last year’s fossil free divestment student campaign,
WHEREAS multinational corporations disproportionately conduct business in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as compared to other conflict areas (e.g. Syria or North Korea), where binding law often prevents engagement with human rights violators,
WHEREAS many of the same companies that profit from the illegal infrastructure of occupation, collective punishment, and political repression in the Occupied Palestinian Territories also profit from state violence against communities of color within the United States,
WHEREAS a review of Stanford’s recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings demonstrates past direct investments in corporations like Raytheon[1] that are implicated in such violations of international humanitarian law, indicating that Stanford’s investment portfolio is likely to include similar companies,
WHEREAS investment in these companies shows implicit support for such violations, and the only way to achieve financial neutrality is to end our investment in such companies,
WHEREAS selective divestment, as in the context of South Africa and Sudan, does not seek to determine a political solution nor target a particular ethnic or religious community, but rather the actions of a set of multinational corporations that facilitate human rights abuses and violations of international law,
WHEREAS our peers at many university student associations, including Wesleyan University, Oberlin College, DePaul University, Evergreen State College, UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UCLA, and UC Davis have passed resolutions calling for divestment from companies that violate international law and human rights in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories,
WHEREAS the petition asking Stanford’s Board of Trustees to selectively divest from companies that violate international law and human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has been signed by over 1000 students and 18 Stanford student groups, including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Students for Alternatives to Militarism (SAM), the Asian American Student Association (AASA), MEChA de Stanford, Stanford National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Stanford NAACP), Black Student Union (BSU), Student And Labor Alliance (SALA), Stanford Asian American Activism Committee (SAAAC), Muslim Students Awareness Network (MSAN), Pilipino American Student Union (PASU), Arab Students’ Association at Stanford (ASAS), First Generation Low Income Partnership (FLIP), International Socialist Organization at Stanford (ISO), Stanford Students for Queer Liberation (SSQL), Stanford American Indian Organization (SAIO), Islamic Society of Stanford University (ISSU), Pakistanis at Stanford (PaS), and Stanford University Students for UNICEF (SUSU),
WHEREAS these companies’ actions affect the Stanford community directly, including students whose families live under occupation, and thus attend an institution complicit in violence against their own communities,
WHEREAS the Associated Students of Stanford University has been authorized “to exercise major privileges and responsibilities” with the express purpose of “[encouraging] responsible citizenship and the exercise of individual and corporate responsibility on the part of students,”
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Associated Students of Stanford University Undergraduate Senate, acting under representative authority of the undergraduate student body:
THAT the Associated Students of Stanford University calls upon the Stanford University Trustees to divest from companies that violate international humanitarian law by:
- Maintaining the illegal infrastructure of the Israeli occupation, in particular settlements and wall, which includes companies like Veolia Transdev and Caterpillar[2]
- Facilitating Israel and Egypt’s collective punishment of Palestinian civilians, which includes companies like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin[3]
- Facilitating state repression against Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which includes companies like Combined Tactical Systems and G4S[4]
THAT the Associated Students of Stanford University Undergraduate Senate calls upon the Stanford University Trustees to withdraw investments in securities, endowments, mutual funds, and other monetary instruments with holdings in Veolia Transdev, Caterpillar, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Combined Tactical Systems, G4S, and all corporations that are similarly complicit in violating these criteria, until these companies are no longer engaged in the violation of human rights and other behavior deemed unethical by the Stanford community,
THAT if Stanford University endowment funds are found to be invested in any of the aforementioned companies, the Associated Students of Stanford University calls upon Stanford University to divest all stocks and securities of such companies, at such time and in such manner as to be determined by the Board of Trustees with the goal of maintaining the divestment until they cease these specific practices,
LET IT FINALLY BE RESOLVED that the ASSU calls upon our university to dissociate itself from systematic oppression by divesting from companies that participate in human rights violations against our communities in the United States and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
[1] Stanford’s May 2014 SEC Filings.
[2] In violation of Article 49 of the Geneva Convention. See supplement.**
[3] In violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. See supplement.**
[4] In violation of the United Nations’ International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. See supplement.**
**We are also updating our supplement based on feedback from the town hall.
[2] In violation of Article 49 of the Geneva Convention. See supplement.**
[3] In violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. See supplement.**
[4] In violation of the United Nations’ International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. See supplement.**
**We are also updating our supplement based on feedback from the town hall.