40+ Columbia Student Orgs Join Israel ‘Apartheid Divest’ Coalition

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, NY - Over 40 student organizations at Columbia University from the Black Student Organization to Student Worker Solidarity to the Columbia National Lawyers Guild have joined a reinvigorated coalition aimed at urging Columbia to divest all economic and academic stakes in Israel, according to an op-ed signed by the student groups Tuesday.

The op-ed, published in the Columbia Spectator, announced the groups have joined Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a student-led coalition initially formed in 2016 that was reactivated last month “in response to the overwhelming support for Palestinian freedom from students on Columbia’s campus.”

“We know that antisemitism, Islamophobia, and racism—in particular racism against Arabs and Palestinians—are all cut from the same cloth: Western colonization, imperialism, white supremacy, and anti-Blackness,” the op-ed reads. “Silencing Jewish voices for Palestine is arguably antisemitic: it conflates Judaism with Zionism and imposes an external definition on an entire group’s religion and culture. The University ignores, misreports, and twists the reality of the brutality unfolding in Gaza while erasing Jewish voices from the Palestinian liberation movement.”

Other signatories include the Asian American Alliance, Columbia Queer Alliance, Muslim Students Association and the Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons Black and Latinx Student Organization.

The 40+ student groups were “further moved to action by the ostensibly politically-motivated” suspension of two student groups last week, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, both of which also signed the op-ed. The student groups were reportedly suspended over violating “multiple” rules, culminating in an unauthorized event Thursday held “despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation,” school officials said last week. Read more: CU Suspends Jewish, Palestinian Groups After Multiple Rules 'Violated'

The CUAD Coalition’s first iteration passed a Columbia College-wide referendum by a "sizable margin” in September 2020 in favor of divestment, but was ultimately overturned by former University President Lee Bollinger.

“Columbia University Apartheid Divest is a coalition of student organizations that see Palestine as the vanguard for our collective liberation,” the op-ed reads. “We are a continuation of the Vietnam anti-war movement and the movement to divest from apartheid South Africa. We support freedom and justice for the Palestinian people, and for all people. We know that true collective safety will arise when everyone has access to clean air, clean water, food, housing, education, healthcare, freedom of movement, and dignity.”

Related: Columbia Student Sues 'Doxxing Truck' Group Toting 'Columbia's Leading Antisemites' Mobile Billboards

Tuesday's op-ed lists six demands, namely immediately divesting in all of the university’s stakes in Israel in accordance with the results of the 2020 referendum.

Other demands include: calling on President Joe Biden and other officials to support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, canceling the opening of the Tel Aviv Global Center; ceasing the dual-degree partnership with Tel Aviv University; reinstating the suspended student groups, altering the university’s protests and events policies; and divesting from companies profiting from “Israeli apartheid, noting that both former Columbia and Barnard presidents unilaterally and anti-democratically ignored the student body referendums to divest in 2020 and in 2018.”

“We cannot take action to stop further atrocities if individuals and authoritative bodies at the University distort and stifle our message,” the op-ed continues.

“The Columbia administration’s negligence severely compromises the safety of students, and threatens our ability to advocate for this issue," the student groups added. "The Columbia administration has set a dangerous precedent by erasing the Palestinian struggle through one-sided decisions and emails that threaten and suppress the voices of students who support justice for Palestine, enabling a violent, repressive environment that puts Palestinian students, as well as all their Arab, Muslim, Jewish, and BIPOC peers, at risk through surveillance and policing …

“Truth and justice are on our side. Our power is in the collective. We keep us safe. Our only solution is to keep speaking out. The more Columbia attempts to silence us, the louder we will be.”

You can read the full op-ed here.

See the full list of student org signatories below:

• AAPI Inter Board
• African Students Association
• African Studies Working Group
• Asian American Alliance
• AZINE
• Barnard Columbia Urban Review
• BCAC Barnard Columbia Abolitionist Collective
• Black Student Organization
• BOSS Barnard Organization of Soul and Solidarity
• Caribbean Students Association
• Club Bangla
• Columbia Chicanx Caucus
• Columbia Law Students for Palestine
• Columbia Middle Eastern Law Association
• Columbia Mixed Heritage Society
• Columbia National Lawyers Guild
• Columbia Queer and Asian
• Columbia Social Workers for Palestine
• CQA: Columbia Queer Alliance
• CSER SAB Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race Student Advisory Board
• CU Afghan Student Alliance
• DAR—Palestine Students Union
• Global Learning Exchange
• Graduate Muslim Student Association
• HEP Housing Equity Project
• HOME Columbia Humanitarian Organization for Migration and Emergencies
• Jewish Voice for Peace
• Law School Coalition for a Free Palestine
• Masaha
• Muslim Students Association
• Poetry Slam
• Proud Colors
• Reproductive Justice Collective
• Sabor
• SIPA Palestine Working Group
• SSA Somali Student Association
• Students for Justice in Palestine
• Student Workers of Columbia
• Student Worker Solidarity
• Sunrise Columbia
• Third Wheel Improv
• Turath: CU Arab students Association
• VP&S Black and Latinx Student Organization
• VP&S Muslim Students Association
• VSA Columbia Vietnamese Students Association
• White Coats 4 Black Lives
• YDSA Young Democratic Socialists of America