We, the undersigned faculty members, respectfully ask the ASSU to pass the bill currently before it. The bill asks the university to stop investing in companies that profit from the occupation of Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967. This is entirely consistent with, indeed required by, the University Code of Conduct, which requires that members of the Stanford community “maintain the highest standards of integrity.”
The bill asks that Stanford divest from corporations that profit from maintaining the infrastructure of Israel’s 48-year long illegal occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and of the Gaza Strip, and enabling the collective punishment of civilians in those territories, as well as acts of mass incarceration, repression of unarmed protesters, and the denial of rights to work and economic well-being.
To achieve this goal, it selectively targets multinational companies that violate international humanitarian law and human rights in the Occupied Palestine Territories and here in the United States. Companies like Motorola Solutions, Veolia, Cement Roadstone Holdings, Elbit Systems profit from constructing the physical infrastructure of the occupation, including settlements of Israeli Jews implanted in the West Bank, which violates Article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 465 of 1980 (among many others), and a separation barrier that effectively annexes 9.5% of the West Bank, which a 14-1 vote of the International Court of Justice ruled illegal in July 2004. Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, G4S, Defense Technology Corporation, and Combined Tactical Systems provide hardware and military equipment used to enforce the occupation, confiscate Palestinian lands, demolish Palestinian homes, and carry out acts of mass incarceration (over 800,000 Palestinians since 1967), transfer Palestinians outside of the West Bank, and impose collective punishment, which violate Articles 33, 49 and 76 of the 4th Geneva Convention.
Some argue that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a problem of “multiple narratives.” But there is no question about the facts of the case at hand relating to Israel’s occupation of the territories seized in the June 1967 War — they are verified by internationally recognized sources such as the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Israeli Human Rights organizations like B’Tselem, and Israeli news sources. These facts support the international consensus that the Occupation is illegal and the actions undertaken by the State of Israel to enforce it violate international law.
Therefore, Stanford must distance itself from them, as the Code of Conduct requires that, “No unethical practice can be tolerated because it is ‘customary’ outside of Stanford or that it serves other worthy goals. Expediency should never compromise integrity.” We are asking Stanford to uphold its proclaimed values.
We reject the notion that divestment unfairly singles out one country for condemnation. The enormous amount of US aid to Israel (at least $3 billion annually, more than any other country in the world receives) already makes us in the United States complicit with Israel’s actions. We equally reject the claim that divestment is a form of anti-Semitism or in any way directed against Jewish students on campus. Divestment is directed against the policies of the state of Israel. By supporting divestment, we believe we are doing what we can locally, within the Stanford community.
We stand in the proud tradition of previous faculty actions, against the South African apartheid regime, against investments in fossil fuel, and others. We believe it behooves us as educators to not only train our students to be world citizens and world leaders, but also to mode ourselves actions that embody the best aspects of world citizenship, beginning with upholding international law and opposing those who do not.
Respectfully,
Joel Beinin , Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History
Eamonn Callan, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Pigott Family School of Education Professor, and Professor, by courtesy, of Philosophy
Clayborne Carson, Martin Luther King, Jr. Centennial Professor
David Como, Associate Professor of History
Robert Crews, Associate Professor of History
Mark Crimmins, Associate Professor of Philosophy
J.P. Daughton, Associate Professor of History and, by courtesy, of French and Italian
James Ferguson, Susan S. and William H. Hindle Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences
Kenneth Fields, Professor of English
Thomas Blom Hansen, Reliance-Dhirubhai Ambani Professor in South Asian Studies and Professor in Anthropology
Robert Finn, Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus
Leslie Hill, Associate Professor (Teaching) of Theater and Performance Studies
Doug McAdam, Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor
Cherríe L. Moraga, Artist in Residence, Department of Theater and Performance Studies, Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity
Andrea Nightingale, Professor of Classics
David Palumbo-Liu, Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor
María Paz Haro, Professor Emerita, Iberian and Latin American Studies
Robert Proctor, Professor of History and, by courtesy, of Medicine
Rush Rehm, Professor of Theater and Performance Studies and Classics
Joan Ramon Resina, Professor of Iberian and Latin Cultures, and of Comparative Literature
Paul Robinson, Richard W. Lyman Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus
Robert Sapolsky, John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor and Professor of Neurology and of Neurosurgery
Priya Satia, Associate Professor of History
Paul Seaver, Professor of history Emeritus
Thomas Wasow, Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy, Emeritus
Sylvia Yanagisako, Edward Clark Crossett Professor of Humanistic Studies
Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano, Professor of Iberian and Latin American Cultures, Emerita
Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History
Khalil Barhoum, Senior Lecturer in Arabic
Todd Davies, Lecturer in Symbolic Systems
Linda Hess, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies
The bill asks that Stanford divest from corporations that profit from maintaining the infrastructure of Israel’s 48-year long illegal occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and of the Gaza Strip, and enabling the collective punishment of civilians in those territories, as well as acts of mass incarceration, repression of unarmed protesters, and the denial of rights to work and economic well-being.
To achieve this goal, it selectively targets multinational companies that violate international humanitarian law and human rights in the Occupied Palestine Territories and here in the United States. Companies like Motorola Solutions, Veolia, Cement Roadstone Holdings, Elbit Systems profit from constructing the physical infrastructure of the occupation, including settlements of Israeli Jews implanted in the West Bank, which violates Article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 465 of 1980 (among many others), and a separation barrier that effectively annexes 9.5% of the West Bank, which a 14-1 vote of the International Court of Justice ruled illegal in July 2004. Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, G4S, Defense Technology Corporation, and Combined Tactical Systems provide hardware and military equipment used to enforce the occupation, confiscate Palestinian lands, demolish Palestinian homes, and carry out acts of mass incarceration (over 800,000 Palestinians since 1967), transfer Palestinians outside of the West Bank, and impose collective punishment, which violate Articles 33, 49 and 76 of the 4th Geneva Convention.
Some argue that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a problem of “multiple narratives.” But there is no question about the facts of the case at hand relating to Israel’s occupation of the territories seized in the June 1967 War — they are verified by internationally recognized sources such as the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Israeli Human Rights organizations like B’Tselem, and Israeli news sources. These facts support the international consensus that the Occupation is illegal and the actions undertaken by the State of Israel to enforce it violate international law.
Therefore, Stanford must distance itself from them, as the Code of Conduct requires that, “No unethical practice can be tolerated because it is ‘customary’ outside of Stanford or that it serves other worthy goals. Expediency should never compromise integrity.” We are asking Stanford to uphold its proclaimed values.
We reject the notion that divestment unfairly singles out one country for condemnation. The enormous amount of US aid to Israel (at least $3 billion annually, more than any other country in the world receives) already makes us in the United States complicit with Israel’s actions. We equally reject the claim that divestment is a form of anti-Semitism or in any way directed against Jewish students on campus. Divestment is directed against the policies of the state of Israel. By supporting divestment, we believe we are doing what we can locally, within the Stanford community.
We stand in the proud tradition of previous faculty actions, against the South African apartheid regime, against investments in fossil fuel, and others. We believe it behooves us as educators to not only train our students to be world citizens and world leaders, but also to mode ourselves actions that embody the best aspects of world citizenship, beginning with upholding international law and opposing those who do not.
Respectfully,
Joel Beinin , Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History
Eamonn Callan, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Pigott Family School of Education Professor, and Professor, by courtesy, of Philosophy
Clayborne Carson, Martin Luther King, Jr. Centennial Professor
David Como, Associate Professor of History
Robert Crews, Associate Professor of History
Mark Crimmins, Associate Professor of Philosophy
J.P. Daughton, Associate Professor of History and, by courtesy, of French and Italian
James Ferguson, Susan S. and William H. Hindle Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences
Kenneth Fields, Professor of English
Thomas Blom Hansen, Reliance-Dhirubhai Ambani Professor in South Asian Studies and Professor in Anthropology
Robert Finn, Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus
Leslie Hill, Associate Professor (Teaching) of Theater and Performance Studies
Doug McAdam, Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor
Cherríe L. Moraga, Artist in Residence, Department of Theater and Performance Studies, Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity
Andrea Nightingale, Professor of Classics
David Palumbo-Liu, Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor
María Paz Haro, Professor Emerita, Iberian and Latin American Studies
Robert Proctor, Professor of History and, by courtesy, of Medicine
Rush Rehm, Professor of Theater and Performance Studies and Classics
Joan Ramon Resina, Professor of Iberian and Latin Cultures, and of Comparative Literature
Paul Robinson, Richard W. Lyman Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus
Robert Sapolsky, John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor and Professor of Neurology and of Neurosurgery
Priya Satia, Associate Professor of History
Paul Seaver, Professor of history Emeritus
Thomas Wasow, Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy, Emeritus
Sylvia Yanagisako, Edward Clark Crossett Professor of Humanistic Studies
Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano, Professor of Iberian and Latin American Cultures, Emerita
Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History
Khalil Barhoum, Senior Lecturer in Arabic
Todd Davies, Lecturer in Symbolic Systems
Linda Hess, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies