The six firms — Caterpillar, United Technologies, General Electric, ITT, Motorola and Terex — have all provided the Israeli army with equipment and services in the West Bank and in Gaza. Fourteen other companies with similar backgrounds were also placed on a list so that Hampshire will be wary of investing in them in the future.
The student group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which had been campaigning for such a result, hailed the decision as groundbreaking and cited their campaign as a main factor in the Board of Trustees’ decision. Its efforts began in 2007 when the college officially recognized it as an official student group. Since then, the group has collected over 800 signatures from students, alumni and faculty in a petition that was then presented to the Board.
“SJP has proven that student groups can organize, rally and pressure their schools to divest from the illegal occupation,” said the group in a statement to Hampshire College. “The group hopes that this decision will pave the way for other institutions of higher learning in the U.S. to take similar actions.”
However, the administration insists that the decision was not based on political issues but on the moral standards to which the college holds its business partners.
According to a statement released by the Board of Trustees, “The investment committee’s decision was based on the consultant’s finding that [the companies] engaged in multiple violations of the college’s investment policy. The decision expressly did not pertain to a political movement or single out businesses active in a specific region or country.”
The violations the Board cited were discovered in a comprehensive review of its finances by the college’s investment committee and a consultant. The college found that the companies’ business practices violated the college’s policy of maintaining “socially responsibly investments” due to unfair labor practices, environmental abuse, military weapons manufacturing and unsafe workplace settings. These reasons, and not the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, motivated the Board to make such a decision.
The only acknowledgement of SJP’s influence on the administration was seen in the minutes of the Board meeting in which “President Hexter acknowledged that it was the good work of SJP that brought this issue to the attention of the committee.”
Divestment is not a new action to Hampshire; the college was the first in the United States to divest from South Africa due to Apartheid 32 years ago. Soon after, the college severed its connections with the South African government, an action that schools from across the nation followed.
SJP believes that this decision is a first step towards their goal of a free Palestine, outlined in their proposal that included calling on Hampshire to “support the autonomy and self-determination of the Palestinian people” and asking the United States government to “stop financing Israel’s occupation of Palestine.”
“Honestly, I think this is a massive step,” said Andrew Stachiw, a SJP spokesman. “I think it may be 10 or 15 years before people begin to realize how big this is. [The] boycott is a call from Palestinians to society, not just something that Hampshire cooked up. For a country that has completely turned a blind eye to Palestine as a whole, not to mention funded the Israeli military single-handedly, this is a huge first step.”
With their victory achieved on campus, SJP now looks to spread the message to other colleges across the nation, many of which have eagerly embraced the possibility of divestment on their campuses.
“I can’t tell you about the hundreds of e-mails we’ve received from other schools,” Stachiw said. “People want us to come to their schools and [teach] how to run workshops and how to start divestment campaigns. I know this will snowball.”
Though Amherst has its own branch of SJP, the organization here was only formed this year and is not yet at a point where it can petition for divestment. However, Amal Ahmad ’12 of Amherst SJP found Hampshire’s campaign inspiring.
“I think it’s a huge step forward and I think the biggest reason why it’s important is it tells us that we students have the power,” Ahmad said. “We’re not helpless. We don’t just do everything in vain. [SJP is] still starting right now, so divestment is not something for us right now, but hopefully we can follow in the tracks of Hampshire, that’d be amazing.”
Nevertheless, Stachiw believes that divestment is only one part of Hampshire SJP’s plans to help the Palestinian people.
“We’re going to be doing an extensive tour to spread the message, to spread tactics, and to assist in other campaigns across the country,” Stachiw elaborated. “Our call for divestment isn’t just about divestment. We also call for an exchange program with Palestinian students and professors alike. It’s not just about removing our complicity, but it’s about helping the Palestinian people in their situation.”