Academic Boycott NOW

Suspend Pitzer Haifa is a campaign at Pitzer College to end the college’s institutional ties with Haifa University, one of the pillar schools of the Israeli military, until Israeli universities end their complicity in Israeli apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.

The Pitzer Student Senate recently passed Resolution 60-R-5 affirming this demand and showing mass student support for a principled Boycott Divestment Sanctions resolution at Pitzer. Next, the resolution will go to the College Council.

Tell President Strom Thacker to support the resolution and Suspend Pitzer Haifa!

DIRECTIONS:

1. PLEASE FILL IN BLANK PARTS OF THE EMAIL. IF YOU NEED INSPIRATION FOR THE PERSONAL MESSAGE OF SUPPORT PLEASE SEE THE IDEAS BELOW.

2. CLICK SEND TO [email protected] AND CC [email protected]

INSPIRATION:

Why do you support Suspend Pitzer Haifa?

Draw connections to labor movements, abolition movements, or other social movements you may have a connection to (maybe a school club, internship, class, etc)
Your personal connection does not need to be this long but here is an example:
- Ex. Through Pitzer College, I participate in an internship with Huerta del Valle community garden. The garden’s mission is to fight food insecurity, health issues, and environmental racism in the Inland Region. This work is grounded in the reality that the disproportionate harms of food injustice, pollution, and poverty on the Inland Region’s communities of color are products of US imperialism, settler colonialism, and white supremacy. However, it is impossible to achieve food security, environmental justice, and liberation from white supremacy for one community without rejecting all forms of imperialism and settler colonialism. Right now, Palestinians in Gaza are facing starvation and disease due to Israel's blockade; food, water, fuel, and medication are running out. Israel’s siege and blockade of Gaza creates air, soil, and water pollution, and consequently environmental health disasters for Palestinians; 25% of diseases in Gaza are linked to poor water quality, as well as disproportionate rates of kidney problems and cancers. Israel is the 10th largest weapons exporter, which is one of the worlds most pollutive industries. Although experienced in very unique ways and at disproportionate magnitudes, there are clear ties that can be seen between the experiences of communities of color in the Inland Region at the hands of the US government and the experiences of Palestinians due to Israeli occupation. It is not possible for Pitzer to truly honor and support its partnership with Huerta del Valle community garden if it continues to contribute to support the Apartheid state of israel.
Positionality. Ex. The liberation and protection of Palestinian life is inextricably tied to that of US citizens; we, as US citizens, have an obligation to demand and advocate for Palestinian liberation because US tax dollars and weapon manufacturers support this genocide. Every single American citizen is implicated in and responsible for standing up against the genocide of Palestinains in Gaza at this moment.

Discrimination against Palestinian students, many of whom would not be allowed on this program because of a lack of right to return Israel enforces.

Suspend Pitzer Haifa is a campaign at Pitzer College to end the college’s institutional ties with Haifa University, one of the pillar schools of the Israeli military, until Israeli universities end their complicity in Israeli apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.

The Pitzer Student Senate recently passed Resolution 60-R-5 affirming this demand and showing mass student support for a principled Boycott Divestment Sanctions resolution at Pitzer. Next, the resolution will go to the College Council.

Tell President Strom Thacker to support the resolution and Suspend Pitzer Haifa!

DIRECTIONS:

1. PLEASE FILL IN BLANK PARTS OF THE EMAIL. IF YOU NEED INSPIRATION FOR THE PERSONAL MESSAGE OF SUPPORT PLEASE SEE THE IDEAS BELOW.

2. CLICK SEND TO [email protected] AND CC [email protected]

INSPIRATION:

Why do you support Suspend Pitzer Haifa?

Draw connections to labor movements, abolition movements, or other social movements you may have a connection to (maybe a school club, internship, class, etc)
Your personal connection does not need to be this long but here is an example:
- Ex. Through Pitzer College, I participate in an internship with Huerta del Valle community garden. The garden’s mission is to fight food insecurity, health issues, and environmental racism in the Inland Region. This work is grounded in the reality that the disproportionate harms of food injustice, pollution, and poverty on the Inland Region’s communities of color are products of US imperialism, settler colonialism, and white supremacy. However, it is impossible to achieve food security, environmental justice, and liberation from white supremacy for one community without rejecting all forms of imperialism and settler colonialism. Right now, Palestinians in Gaza are facing starvation and disease due to Israel's blockade; food, water, fuel, and medication are running out. Israel’s siege and blockade of Gaza creates air, soil, and water pollution, and consequently environmental health disasters for Palestinians; 25% of diseases in Gaza are linked to poor water quality, as well as disproportionate rates of kidney problems and cancers. Israel is the 10th largest weapons exporter, which is one of the worlds most pollutive industries. Although experienced in very unique ways and at disproportionate magnitudes, there are clear ties that can be seen between the experiences of communities of color in the Inland Region at the hands of the US government and the experiences of Palestinians due to Israeli occupation. It is not possible for Pitzer to truly honor and support its partnership with Huerta del Valle community garden if it continues to contribute to support the Apartheid state of israel.
Positionality. Ex. The liberation and protection of Palestinian life is inextricably tied to that of US citizens; we, as US citizens, have an obligation to demand and advocate for Palestinian liberation because US tax dollars and weapon manufacturers support this genocide. Every single American citizen is implicated in and responsible for standing up against the genocide of Palestinains in Gaza at this moment.

Discrimination against Palestinian students, many of whom would not be allowed on this program because of a lack of right to return Israel enforces.

Tell Strom: Suspend Pitzer Haifa

63 emails sent

Compose your email

Name

Email

Class Year

Subject:

Dear President Thacker,

My name is __________ and I am a ____-year at Pitzer College. I am writing to you to express my support for the conditional suspension of Pitzer’s institutional relationship with the University of Haifa through our study abroad partnership.

This is personally important to me because___________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________(please write at least one complete sentence- remember to bold this section). ____(If you are Jewish we encourage you to add the following sentence and if you feel comfortable, please expand on why you, as a Jewish student, support the conditional suspension) ______________

As a Jewish student, I proudly stand in solidarity with Palestinian students on campus and Palestinian civil society’s call to suspend ties with the University of Haifa. Please do not allow yourself to be manipulated or pressured by pro-Israel organizations that try to speak on behalf of all Jews.

The movement to end Pitzer’s complicity with Israeli apartheid is more urgent than ever amid the civilian genocide in Gaza. In the recent escalation in violence, the Israeli Occupation Forces have massacred over 30,000 Palestinian people. Israel is currently bombing and raiding Rafah, where 1.5 million Gazans are trapped. The death toll only keeps growing and we must take action.

I want to affirm the almost unanimous passing of the Student Senate motion 60-R-5, which passed this Sunday February 11th with a 34:1 majority. At the Student Senate, over 30 students, senators, professors, and community members spoke in support of the resolution during open forum, beautifully demonstrating Pitzer’s core value. Hundreds of students continue to show up to actions in support of suspending our unethical study abroad program at Haifa. As our president, we expect you to support our principled solidarity and support our campaign.

When the African National Congress called for an academic boycott during their struggle for liberation Pitzer and other American colleges and universities answered, by divesting from and suspending institutional relations with South African universities complicit in apartheid. The international community stood in solidarity with Black and Coloured South Africans resisting apartheid and it played a key role in dismantling state systems of oppression. By answering Palestinians’ call for an academic boycott, Palestinians are one step closer to life beyond apartheid. This is a nonviolent, low-stakes, high-impact act of solidarity.

Pitzer needs to live up to its values. Every day we maintain an institutional partnership with complicit Israeli universities, we are partners in apartheid and genocide. The movement to suspend Pitzer’s institutional relationship with complicit Israeli universities has passed once through College Council, has passed through Student Senate, and it will pass again. If vetoed this time, students and faculty will continue organizing until Pitzer ends complicity in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

As a Pitzer student and future alum, I implore you to support the Suspend Pitzer Haifa campaign. The vast majority of the student body supports this campaign. Live up to your values and represent your students.

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