For Immediate Release -Monday, February 2, 2015
Press Contacts: Sherif Ibrahim: [email protected]; EKela Autry [email protected]
STANFORD, Calif - Over 1,000 Stanford students have signed a petition calling on Stanford University to divest from multinational corporations that facilitate human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This historic milestone comes just a week before Stanford’s undergraduate senate will vote on a resolution calling on the Board of Trustees to divest.
Both the petition and resolution are being organized by Stanford Out of Occupied Palestine (SOOP), a coalition of 18 campus organizations including the Black Student Union, MEChA, and Students for Justice in Palestine.
“We believe it is time for Stanford to stop actively investing in the occupation of Palestine,” said master’s student and SOOP member Sherif Ibrahim. “Seven out of nine University of California campuses have passed divestment resolutions. It is time for Stanford to catch up to our peers who have taken a courageous stance.”
SOOP’s divestment campaign is based around three criteria: illegal aspects of the occupation, such as settlements and the wall; collective punishment in the form of home demolitions and military campaigns against civilian populations; and state sanctioned repression, such as mass incarceration and use of force against protesters. This last criteria also highlights state violence in the United States.
“We recognize that corporations like G4S, Combined Tactical Systems, and Hewlett Packard profit from incarceration, the use of tear gas against protesters, and border control both in the US and Palestine,” said senior and SOOP member Manny Thompson. “The delegation of Black Lives Matter and Ferguson representatives that recently returned from Palestine affirms transnational solidarity between the two movements and so do we.”
Students discovered in a May 2014 SEC filing that Stanford maintained a direct investment in Raytheon - a corporation that provides missiles and cluster bombs to the IDF and have been used in acts that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have described as collective punishment.
“With a $21 billion endowment, it’s hard to imagine we’re not invested in these companies--many of which are on the Fortune 500,” said Sarah Salameh, a member of SOOP in her senior year. “We’re just asking the Board of Trustees to remain accountable to their policies on socially responsible investment and ensure that the endowment remains out of the occupation beyond whatever current investments it has.”
Over the past four weeks, Stanford Out of Occupied Palestine has hosted several events geared at educating campus about the occupation of Palestine and the call for divestment.This coming Wednesday, the coalition will further engage the Stanford community by hosting a town hall to give students a forum to provide feedback on the resolution that the Senate will vote on next week.
Students describe a noticeable shift in discourse around the Palestinian issue.
“We’ve witnessed a tremendous shift this school year--both in the number of people who feel empowered to actively organize around this issue and in the average student’s sense that the occupation is wrong and must end,” said sophomore and SOOP member EKela Autry. “Our generation is not afraid to speak out on this issue and it is our imperative to act in the service of international law and human rights.”
Press Contacts: Sherif Ibrahim: [email protected]; EKela Autry [email protected]
STANFORD, Calif - Over 1,000 Stanford students have signed a petition calling on Stanford University to divest from multinational corporations that facilitate human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This historic milestone comes just a week before Stanford’s undergraduate senate will vote on a resolution calling on the Board of Trustees to divest.
Both the petition and resolution are being organized by Stanford Out of Occupied Palestine (SOOP), a coalition of 18 campus organizations including the Black Student Union, MEChA, and Students for Justice in Palestine.
“We believe it is time for Stanford to stop actively investing in the occupation of Palestine,” said master’s student and SOOP member Sherif Ibrahim. “Seven out of nine University of California campuses have passed divestment resolutions. It is time for Stanford to catch up to our peers who have taken a courageous stance.”
SOOP’s divestment campaign is based around three criteria: illegal aspects of the occupation, such as settlements and the wall; collective punishment in the form of home demolitions and military campaigns against civilian populations; and state sanctioned repression, such as mass incarceration and use of force against protesters. This last criteria also highlights state violence in the United States.
“We recognize that corporations like G4S, Combined Tactical Systems, and Hewlett Packard profit from incarceration, the use of tear gas against protesters, and border control both in the US and Palestine,” said senior and SOOP member Manny Thompson. “The delegation of Black Lives Matter and Ferguson representatives that recently returned from Palestine affirms transnational solidarity between the two movements and so do we.”
Students discovered in a May 2014 SEC filing that Stanford maintained a direct investment in Raytheon - a corporation that provides missiles and cluster bombs to the IDF and have been used in acts that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have described as collective punishment.
“With a $21 billion endowment, it’s hard to imagine we’re not invested in these companies--many of which are on the Fortune 500,” said Sarah Salameh, a member of SOOP in her senior year. “We’re just asking the Board of Trustees to remain accountable to their policies on socially responsible investment and ensure that the endowment remains out of the occupation beyond whatever current investments it has.”
Over the past four weeks, Stanford Out of Occupied Palestine has hosted several events geared at educating campus about the occupation of Palestine and the call for divestment.This coming Wednesday, the coalition will further engage the Stanford community by hosting a town hall to give students a forum to provide feedback on the resolution that the Senate will vote on next week.
Students describe a noticeable shift in discourse around the Palestinian issue.
“We’ve witnessed a tremendous shift this school year--both in the number of people who feel empowered to actively organize around this issue and in the average student’s sense that the occupation is wrong and must end,” said sophomore and SOOP member EKela Autry. “Our generation is not afraid to speak out on this issue and it is our imperative to act in the service of international law and human rights.”
###