Vanguard News Desk Editor
DAVIS, CA – The University of California at Davis Monday announced it has suspended the school’s Law Students Association, and seized about $40,000 of the group’s assets because it supports a boycott of Israel’s products, according to a late Tuesday report by KCRA News, and other news agencies.
The university claimed the group violated UC policy, that student government organizations operate on a “viewpoint neutral basis,” and described the Israel boycott position “discriminatory,” KCRA added.
The Law Students Association was dissolved, reported the Sacramento Bee, when the group passed a resolution to “institute an association-wide academic and fiscal boycott of Israel” for its “ongoing genocide and occupation in Palestine.”
“We are appalled to see UC Davis and King Hall administration follow in the footstep of other universities in using their discretion to disempower students’ collective action.” the National Lawyers Guild UC Davis chapter stated, the Bee wrote.
“I want to state as strongly as possible that we will not tolerate hatred against any individual or group, or any activities directed at any individual or group in ways that violate UC policy,” said UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May last week, according to KCRA, adding the university was reviewing complaints about a demonstration by Students for Justice in Palestine.
While UC Davis officials said the campus, reported KCRA, could peacefully exercise the right of free expression, “the university cannot allow disregard or violation of state or federal law and university policy.”
But, KCRA said, “Earlier in March, UC Davis was named as one of the universities under investigation by the Department of Education for ‘antisemitic harassment and discrimination,’ placing the university under further scrutiny.”
The amendment to boycott Israel products was passed Feb. 28, and “prohibits approval of funding for speakers who are associated with Israel’s government or a number of Israeli universities and for events featuring speakers from three law firms that have reportedly revoked job offers to law students who have advocated for Palestinian causes,” the Bee wrote.
The amendment, the Bee explained, also prevents monies from “going to any companies listed by Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), a Palestinian-led movement which seeks to cut ties with Israel and companies that support it. The list includes corporations across many sectors, including Burger King, McDonald’s, Intel and Disney+.”
The NLG at UC Davis drafted the controversial resolution and claims, the Bee writes, it is supported by 18 student organizations that signed a petition of support.
“I want to state as strongly as possible that we will not tolerate hatred against any individual or group, or any activities directed at any individual or group in ways that violate UC policy”
Good, it sounds like UC Davis is finally coming around.
and “prohibits approval of funding for speakers who are associated with Israel’s government or a number of Israeli universities and for events featuring speakers from three law firms that have reportedly revoked job offers to law students who have advocated for Palestinian causes,”
While, I assume, allowing *funding* for speakers who criticize Israel. And there is free speech issue, among several others. Again, criticizing Israel should never be prohibited or punished. The double-standard is one issue, violating the rights of some students is another.