Controversy surrounds Hampshire's divestment
Liz Brasington
Issue date: 2/26/09 Section: News
"Until now, every American university administration has categorically rejected this attempt to single out Israel in a world filled with massive human rights abusers," Dershowitz wrote, "but Hampshire caved in to student and faculty pressure."
Dershowitz claimed he would stop giving money to Hampshire, his son's alma mater, and called for others to do the same.
The aforementioned online letter by Hexter and Roos was addressed to Dershowitz. It strongly emphasized that the school had no intention of targeting Israel in the movement of the fund.
"Sadly, though, there have been students and some members of our faculty who have mischaracterized what happened here, claiming that the board did something it did not," the letter states.
This rhetoric was a disappointment for the students of SJP. However, according to SJP's Dina Jacir '09, they do not plan to play "back and forth with the administration."
"Whether they want to admit to it or not," Jacir said, "the board made the decision because of SJP."
SJP has been meeting frequently after the announcement and speaking to the press almost daily. SJP members and professors have also penned opinion articles regarding the divestment. Their current focus is to reach out to other college students who want their colleges to take similar action.
"Most importantly, this is the beginning of a movement and we want to help other colleges divest," Jacir said.
In 1977, Hampshire College was among the first colleges to divest from Apartheid South Africa. After that divestment, the administration was resistant to admit the move was a political one. Currently, that landmark divestment is now used as a selling point in college tours. It is too soon to tell whether this divestment story will end the same way.
Dershowitz claimed he would stop giving money to Hampshire, his son's alma mater, and called for others to do the same.
The aforementioned online letter by Hexter and Roos was addressed to Dershowitz. It strongly emphasized that the school had no intention of targeting Israel in the movement of the fund.
"Sadly, though, there have been students and some members of our faculty who have mischaracterized what happened here, claiming that the board did something it did not," the letter states.
This rhetoric was a disappointment for the students of SJP. However, according to SJP's Dina Jacir '09, they do not plan to play "back and forth with the administration."
"Whether they want to admit to it or not," Jacir said, "the board made the decision because of SJP."
SJP has been meeting frequently after the announcement and speaking to the press almost daily. SJP members and professors have also penned opinion articles regarding the divestment. Their current focus is to reach out to other college students who want their colleges to take similar action.
"Most importantly, this is the beginning of a movement and we want to help other colleges divest," Jacir said.
In 1977, Hampshire College was among the first colleges to divest from Apartheid South Africa. After that divestment, the administration was resistant to admit the move was a political one. Currently, that landmark divestment is now used as a selling point in college tours. It is too soon to tell whether this divestment story will end the same way.
Viewing Comments 1 - 9 of 9
Dina Jacir
posted 2/27/09 @ 10:24 PM EST
Dear Liz and editor,
My name is Dina Jacir and I was the student from Hampshire's Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) interviewed for the Sophian. (Continued…)
K2K2
K2K2
posted 3/01/09 @ 2:08 PM EST
It is deeply distressing that anyone claiming to be educated would make any comparison between Israel and the apartheid era of the Republic of South Africa in order to pressure college and universities to divest investments from companies who do business with Israel in any sector. (Continued…)
Jon Haber
posted 3/02/09 @ 1:46 PM EST
The issue is not one of interpretation. Simply put: the college DID NOT divest in Israel. Tt made that clear when the decision was first taken and has been forced to continue to clarify that daily, not because of Alan Dershowitz or the ADL, but because the SJP has decided to speak on behalf of the college, telling the world that the school has done what it clearly stated it did not do. (Continued…)
Dina Jacir
posted 3/03/09 @ 8:24 PM EST
Actually John,
SJP NEVER CLAIMED DIVESTMENT FROM ISRAEL. Get your facts straight. We claimed that we divested from the Israel OCCUPATION, meaning six companies (which later became five) that we targeted as directly profiting from Israel's occupation of Palestine: General Electric, United Technologies, ITT Corporation, Terex, Motorola, and Caterpillar. (Continued…)
Jon Haberjon
posted 3/04/09 @ 6:42 AM EST
Actually, the only thing we know with absolute certaintly is that Hampshire DID NOT make this decision because of Israel, "the Occupation" (buggah, buggah, buggah) or anything having to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict. (Continued…)
K2K2
posted 3/04/09 @ 12:50 PM EST
Confirming what Jon Haber has written, in their own words: Ralph Hexter, president and Sigmund Roos, chair of the Board of Trustees, Hampshire College
". (Continued…)
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