Academic Boycott NOW

On April 1st, Pitzer became the first US higher education institution to enact a significant measure of the Palestinian led call for academic boycott of Israel by closing its study abroad program to the University of Haifa. Haifa University is one of the pillar schools of the Israeli military and actively aids Israels ongoing apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide of Palestine. This BDS victory comes after 6+ years of student organizing despite constant repression by the Pitzer administration and board of trustees.

On Thursday April 11th Pitzer’s most inclusive shared governance body (College Council) comprised of students, faculty, and staff, passed resolution 60-R-5 for a complete academic boycott of israeli universities complicit in genocide and apartheid. Before this resolution got to the College Council, it was voted on unanimously through Pitzer’s Student Senate which is one of the largest per-capita college student governments in the world. These votes through the Pitzer government affirm the Pitzer communities demand for a principled Boycott Divestment Sanctions resolution at Pitzer in pursuit of a free Palestine. An hour after this decision President Strom Thacker vetoed this historic resolution, aligning himself firmly with apartheid and betraying Pitzer’s core values.

Tell President Strom Thacker to approve the Academic Boycott Resolution Now!

DIRECTIONS:

1. PLEASE FILL IN BLANK PARTS OF THE EMAIL.

2. CLICK SEND to Pitzer Administrators and Board

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.

On April 1st, Pitzer became the first US higher education institution to enact a significant measure of the Palestinian led call for academic boycott of Israel by closing its study abroad program to the University of Haifa. Haifa University is one of the pillar schools of the Israeli military and actively aids Israels ongoing apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide of Palestine. This BDS victory comes after 6+ years of student organizing despite constant repression by the Pitzer administration and board of trustees.

On Thursday April 11th Pitzer’s most inclusive shared governance body (College Council) comprised of students, faculty, and staff, passed resolution 60-R-5 for a complete academic boycott of israeli universities complicit in genocide and apartheid. Before this resolution got to the College Council, it was voted on unanimously through Pitzer’s Student Senate which is one of the largest per-capita college student governments in the world. These votes through the Pitzer government affirm the Pitzer communities demand for a principled Boycott Divestment Sanctions resolution at Pitzer in pursuit of a free Palestine. An hour after this decision President Strom Thacker vetoed this historic resolution, aligning himself firmly with apartheid and betraying Pitzer’s core values.

Tell President Strom Thacker to approve the Academic Boycott Resolution Now!

DIRECTIONS:

1. PLEASE FILL IN BLANK PARTS OF THE EMAIL.

2. CLICK SEND to Pitzer Administrators and Board

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: Approve the Academic Boycott Now

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Subject:

President Thacker and Pitzer Board of Trustees,

My name is _______ and I am a current ___________ at  __________ College. I am appalled by your decision to veto resolution 60-R-5, with an over ⅔ majority vote in favor of an academic boycott passed through the College Council, the college’s highest shared governance body.  After six months of genocide in Gaza and over 75 years of israeli apartheid in Palestine, you’ve continued to undermine pro-Palestinian student organizing and uphold compulsory Zionism.

This resolution, passed multiple times through shared governance bodies, including a 34:1 affirmative vote at the Student Senate, a 30:0 affirmative vote at the Student Senate for the amendment of 60-R-5, and 48:19 affirmative vote from the College Council. There are countless endorsements for this academic boycott at Pitzer, including Right 2 Education, a coalition of students at Birzeit university, Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees, Omar Barghoutti, co-found of BDS movement, Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council, and Cornel West, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations LA . Instead of hearing the resounding support for an academic boycott of Israel, which Pitzer students, faculty, and alumni have committed themselves to, you have undermined shared governance to undemocratically veto the community resolution and align yourself with the board of trustees. Once again, just like Melvin Oliver, who vetoed a similar resolution five years ago, you choose to prioritize money over Palestinian life and freedom.

Pitzer prides itself in shared governance and radical roots. On April 11, you destroyed these radical roots and trampled shared governance in service of standing with genocide and apartheid. The veto on April 11th marks the third veto in Pitzer’s short 61 year history. Each one of these vetos has been used to suppress pro-Palestinian organizing on campus. Pitzer claims to be a democracy with radical roots, but the veto lifts the liberal veil. In the face of genocide in Palestine, the president and board of trustees maintain their gross loyalty to an apartheid regime and settler-colonial universities in israel.

But I will not be discouraged. As part of a community of students, faculty, staff and alumni committed to Palestinian freedom, I will keep fighting for Pitzer to take up BDS. After 6 years of steadfast organizing, the program at Haifa is closed, even though you, President Thacker, vetoed a complete academic boycott. Amid a scholasticide that has left every university in Gaza destroyed, I maintain that there is no academic freedom for anyone until there is academic freedom for everyone. I vow to continue organizing towards the full enactment of BDS at each of the Claremont Colleges.

We demand that you immediately stop obstructing a democratic veto, rescind the veto, and honor resolution 60-R-5’s resounding support from the community you claim to represent.

We’ll be back,

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