Mondavi Center at UC Davis After a long semester of anti-Semitism on North American college campuses, the Student Senate at UC Davis has voted overwhelmingly to pass an Israel divestment resolution, by a final vote of 10-0, with two abstentions. This is not the first resolution that the students of UC Davis have passed, however. Earlier in the semester, on January 29, the ASUC (Associated Students of UC Davis) passed a divestment resolution by a vote of 8-2-2. The California Aggie, the student newspaper, reported that document called for the school to pull its investments from, “corporations that aid in the Israeli occupation of Palestine and illegal settlements in Palestinian territories.” However, this first divestment resolution was later overturned! About two weeks following the initial vote, the Court of Associated Students, voted of 5-0 (with one abstention), to overturn this resolution, on the grounds that the vote violated the school’s constitution, citing that the document did nothing to provide for the betterment of student welfare, as required by the Constitution, and was simply a political document. The Israel education group, StandWithUs, voiced their praise for the court saying, “Great job to UC Davis students for seeing the light—that BDS (the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement) is a narrow-minded agenda to target only the Jewish state.” The most recent divestment vote strategically included language dealing with the welfare of students. The affirmed anti-Israel group, SJP (Student for Justice in Palestine), at UC Davis released a statement saying, “Although SR 9 was deemed ‘unconstitutional’ by the UC Davis Campus Court back in February, the Divestment Community views this second victory as further affirmation of student concern in their university’s complicity with the Israeli occupation. The two resolutions are nearly identical with the exception that SR 17 includes direct ties to the resolution’s effects on ‘student welfare.’” The most recent divestment vote supposedly included strategically placed language dealing with the welfare of UC Davis students, however it only includes the following on the subject: “WHEREAS, divesting from these funds will create a climate of tolerance and open channels of dialogue between campus communities…” The argument therefore seems to be, if and only if, UC Davis divests from companies that do business with Israel, the only Jewish state in the world, the campus climate will be one of harmony and tranquility. This new resolution reeks of Israel demonization and Jew bashing, and does nothing to increase the quality of student life. However, realistically, nothing is expected to come of this decision. The Sacramento Bee reported in February that the Office of the UC President said their stance has been the same since 2010. They will “not divest from Israeli-tied businesses and expressed concern that Israel was being unfairly targeted in the resolutions.” These recent events at UC Davis are only a microcosm of what have been happening all over the State of California. UC Santa Cruz, UCLA, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Riverside, and UC Berkeley have all passed divestment resolutions over the past few years. However some schools are making positive changes on campus. At UC Berkeley this year, the Associated Students unanimously passed a bill that condemns campus anti-Semitism. UCLA followed Berkeley’s lead, and the student government passed a bill, by a vote of 12-0, that denounces all forms of anti-Semitism and protects Jewish students from discrimination. The latest bill condemning anti-Semitism, which was the strongest yet, was at UC Santa Barbara. The UCSB Resolution condemned the growth of Anti-Semitism on campuses and adopted the U.S. State Department’s Definition of Anti-Semitism. Just one week later, the Student Senate rejected a BDS resolution by a vote of 13 to 12 with one abstention, showing the impact of this bill. UC President Janet Napolitano publicly stated this past May that she personally supports the State Department Definition of Anti-Semitism, which includes demonizing, applying double standards to, and singling out Israel. We hope that the UC Board of Regents will adopt the State Department’s definition, to help curb the ever-growing anti-Semitism on UC campuses.