*PLEASE don't forget to click on "March" and "February" on the right hand side to view more documents, newspapers articles, etc. documenting #UTDivest

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OFFICIAL #UTDIVEST STATEMENT 
APRIL 27, 2015

This Is Our Victory!

This is our victory. In this historic referendum 57.13% of the voting student body approved of ‪#‎UTDivest‬. Over 1,100 students voted YES to our university’s mission statement of “improving the human condition” by divesting from companies that violate international law and human rights. Despite all the tricks and maneuvers, the misleading lies and slander, the fear-mongering paid advertisements, and the unilateral changing of our referendum language, we still won a strong majority of the hearts and minds of UT students. Contrary to what the opposition to divestment would have you believe, it is not us who are marginal, it is them. It is not us who are a minority, it is them. In their celebration of the vote not meeting the arbitrary two-thirds requirement to pass, the opposition has proven nothing more than that they are exactly what they celebrate: a minority. Those who believe in social justice for the Palestinians are a majority on UT’s campus. The numbers cannot be more lucid.

One prominent anti-divestment ideologue put it this way: “[UT] was one of the most difficult campus BDS environments that those who are involved nationally in fighting the BDS movement have experienced.” His words speak volumes to mass popular sentiment in favor of divestment at our university. The opposition had to work with lies, half-truths, and misinformation to garner even the paltry minority vote they received. We are part of not just a national, but an international movement for social justice. As the great people’s historian Howard Zinn once said, “You cannot be neutral on a moving train.” The divest train is moving.

The tenacity, courage, and resilience of the students who put their hearts and minds to the task of making their university a better place and struggling for social justice cannot be underestimated. Every individual and every organization who took part in this movement should not only be proud of themselves for struggling against a hostile administration and a vicious propaganda machine, they should also take pride in the fact that in so many ways we have won. This is our victory, both as participants in #UTDivest but also collectively as students at the University of Toledo. We have received recognition of our movement not only from around the country; it has been celebrated all the way in the beleaguered Gaza Strip.

The obstacles we faced were enormous. The administration, in conjunction with at least one member of Student Government, unilaterally changed our referendum text without informing either us at #UTDivest or the Student Government representatives who voted on our original referendum. For the administration, changing the framing and context of our referendum was integral in their attempt to defeat it. In their altered language they presented divestment as an initiative by a small group of students in SJP, and not as a campus-wide issue that many student organizations supported (including, but not limited to, the Student African American Brotherhood, the International Student Association, the Muslim Student Association, the UT Feminist Alliance, etc.). Furthermore, they struck an entire paragraph documenting how divestment would align with UT’s mission statement of “improving the human condition,” and completely removed the fact that Student Government voted overwhelmingly (21-4) in favor of divestment. This undemocratic, opaque way of operating is not a new tactic employed by the administration.

At every juncture participants in #UTDivest fought for openness, for transparency, and for democracy on campus. In doing so we not only broke the flood gates for discourse about Palestine on this campus, we created a campus climate and culture conducive to open, democratic debate. We challenged every infringement upon students’ rights to participate in this process. Whether it was the reprehensible 5-4 judicial decision claiming our divestment resolution was unconstitutional, or the closed meeting that kept UT students from participating in this important discussion, #UTDivest has been on the side of the people.

The administration, non-student groups, and the student opposition worked in unison, putting forth a concerted effort to enervate one of the foundational principles of any academic institution, namely, to facilitate the intellectual growth of its student body. Consistent with the opposition’s desire to stifle debate and close discussion, the opposition celebrated the inability of student government senators to vote on the resolution. They were also integral in keeping the student body out of the meeting. They proclaimed it was inappropriate for student government to vote on something without hearing the student body voice. After student government eventually voted overwhelmingly in our favor, the opposition proclaimed that it was now inappropriate for students as a whole to vote on the referendum. The JFT, a non-student organization, mobilized all of its resources to try and kill the referendum before it went to a vote.

What has been very evident throughout this entire process is that the opposition simply did not want UT students to vote at all, in any capacity, in any circumstance. Both the 21-4 vote and the 57.13% majority we won explain why. The opposition fears democracy and detests social justice, as evident in their underhanded tactics to shut this movement down.

Coupled with administrative interference and the opposition’s attack on democracy, there was a slick well-funded propaganda machine that based its arguments on falsehoods and slander. The primary aim of the opposition was to portray supporters of divestment as anti-Semitic, a claim so tenuous it could not withstand the most basic scrutiny. Many Jewish students voted to divest, and Jewish community members and organizations, like Jewish Voice for Peace, wrote resoundingly powerful statements in favor of divestment. When it was clear this claim did not hold water, the opposition tried desperately to grasp at any rope they could. They moved quickly to explain how this would “harm” UT students, insinuating with their insulting and elitist advertisements that UT students would become fast-food workers if they voted for divestment. This is a direct insult to the millions of Americans striving to earn a living in low-paying service sector jobs. Despite the fact that there was no truth to the statements, and no historic precedent they could cite, the opposition tried hard to push this falsehood. Noticeably absent in their strategy was any defense of Israel or Israeli policies at all. They could not defend Israel’s actions, and so they avoided the issue completely.

In the email sent by Student Government President to UT students the morning of April 27 announcing the results of the vote, divestment was characterized as "contentious" and "an incredibly difficult topic.” While the opposition avoided the issue of Israeli policies and Palestinian suffering, we have not:

* Between 1955 – 2013, Israel has been the target of 77 resolutions condemning its actions.

* The UN estimates that there will be no drinkable water left in Gaza by 2016, and that Gaza will be *unlivable* by 2020 (Al Jazeera, April 18, 2015).

* One study conducted in 2012, before the most recent deadly attack on Palestinians in 2014, showed PTSD levels to be at 56.8% among adolescents in Gaza (Journal of Traumatic Stress).

* From December 27, 2008 through January 18, 2009, Israeli forces indiscriminately killed 1400 Palestinians, including some 300 children (21%) and hundreds of other unarmed civilians (Amnesty International).

* Over a period of 50 days last summer, 2192 Palestinians, including 519 children were massacred by Israeli forces. In addition, the “UN estimated that about 18,000 housing units were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, leaving approximately 108,000 people homeless. A further 37,650 housing units were damaged” (Amnesty International).

* A 2013 report by Amnesty International describes restrictions on movement imposed by Israeli authorities to “[amount] to collective punishment of the population of Gaza and the West Bank, in violation of international law.”

We do not believe divestment is “contentious” or “incredibly difficult.” Society’s intolerable injustices do not require the search for a full consensus on what perfect justice looks like. We support divestment because we believe in human rights and international law. We believe UT should strive to actually implement its ethical and moral commitments, and adhere to its own mission statement of “improving the human condition.” The majority of UT students agree with us. #UTDivest has created a movement on campus, a movement so resilient that it will continue to grow, to learn, to evolve, and to win. We will continue to work with and organize alongside all organizations that support social justice, and will struggle to ensure that UT is a place where human life is more important than profit. Consciousness has been raised, bodies have been moved, hearts and minds have been won. The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. #UTDivest will continue to move forward in the struggle for justice.

This is our victory!