President Beilock This week, the Student Government Association of Barnard College passed a BDS referendum to divest from Israel, with 64 percent of students voting in favor of the measure. The BDS referendum was then, officially, rejected by Barnard’s administration, with Barnard President Sian Leah Beilock asserting that the referendum does not meet Barnard’s standards for discussion by the Board of Trustees. The referendum, which began on the 70th anniversary of Israel’s founding, was spearheaded by the BDS group Columbia University Apartheid Divest. The referendum had a record number of student participants, with over 1150 votes recorded. (Despite this number, it still constituted less than 30% of the student body.) The referendum seeks that the SGA petition Barnard to divest from eight companies which “profit from or engage in the State of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.” Students spoke out for and against the resolution, with Jewish student organizations such as Aryeh very vocally against the referendum. Aryeh released a statement following the vote where they highlighted the fact that the referendum was a “defeat for all students that pursue peace between Israelis and Palestinians, seek intellectually honest discourse about Israel and the conflict, reject anti-Semitism both in intent and effect, and value an inclusive community at Barnard.” There were, however, accusations that Zionist and Jewish groups were excluded from speaking opportunities. These accusations stem from the failure to give Jewish groups advance warning of the referendum, allowing them only “a day’s notice” in order to prepare. This issue was further exacerbated by “anti-normalization” approach taken by groups affiliated with BDS, whereby the students involved with those groups would purposefully refuse to discuss issues with students they felt to be pro-Israel. The move for divestment at Barnard comes only weeks after New York University’s (NYU) April 9 decision to endorse BDS. The vote at NYU included language aimed at boycotting all “Zionist student clubs,” something that the Barnard vote does not do. The NYU vote singled out Realize Israel and TorchPAC, both of which are pro-Israel campus groups. The NYU vote also stated that a boycott of the Anti-Defamation League should be pursued, for the group’s “Zionist” affiliations. Both the NYU vote and the vote at Barnard were cloaked in the language of intersectionality, the belief that various social categorizations such as race, class, and gender are inextricably linked and cannot be discussed in a vacuum. This theory, which emphasizes the supposedly overlapping and interconnected nature of all forms of discrimination, is often used to conflate issues that are seemingly unrelated as a means of garnering more attention and support for them. At NYU, various student groups including the African student Union, the Asian American Women’s Alliance, the Black Students Union, College Libertarians, Divest for Climate Justice, and the Muslim Students Association created a coalition in support for divestment from Israel. The fact that none of these organizations has anything to do with Israel, nor does Israel fall anywhere in their stated rules, regulations, or goals, did not stop Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace from seeking their support for the BDS referendum. While the vote was taking place at Barnard, the president of the campus Hillel, Talia Rubin, told The Forward that the Jewish students on campus were “exhausted,” and that open conversation on campus had been reduced by the “hostility” of the referendum. Pro-Israel groups have been quick to point out that the language of the divestment referendum accuses Israel of breaking international law, while refusing to address or provide counterarguments to that claim. The Barnard referendum was significant because Barnard recently became the first college in the country to divest from companies that deny climate change science. Opponents of the BDS measure feared this may lead the administration to adopt the BDS measure for similar reasons. As of April 23rd, however, the Barnard administration rejected the BDS referendum. Sian Leah Beilock, the president of Barnard College, sent out a letter calling the measure “inappropriate.” This letter followed a petition received by Barnard College containing the signatures of 2,000 Barnard alums, all urging the administration to reject BDS at Barnard. The letter sent out by Beilock stated that the BDS referendum failed to meet two standards necessary for its consideration by the Board of Trustees. The first standard was the failure of the referendum to facilitate free debate and discussion. The second standard listed was the lack of consensus regarding the referendum. Beilock pointed to the fact that “less than 30% of Barnard’s student body” had voted on the issue. The failure of BDS on Barnard’s campus was thanks to the administration’s quick and decisive action to block this stifling and bigoted movement. The large amount of students who voted in favor of the referendum should, however, be a testament for the continued need to fight back against this insidious movement.