Tell the Board of Trustees: Put your money where your mouth is.
In the Spring of 2010 the student body of The Evergreen State College cast a historic vote in support of human rights. It was the first student-wide vote of its kind in the nation. Two resolutions were passed, one calling for divestment from companies profiting off of Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and the other for the creation of a CAT Free Zone, prohibiting the use of Caterpillar Inc. equipment on campus. The result of the vote was a resounding victory for both resolutions, passing with 79.5% and 71.8% respectively.
The voter turnout set a record at Evergreen, and was more than double the average turnout in student elections nationwide. Following the ballot, the Geoduck Student Union unanimously passed resolutions supporting the student vote and directing the Evergreen Board of Trustees to respond in a timely manner to the request of the student body.
With this kind of unifying support at Evergreen, one would expect quick and decisive action by the Board of Trustees. This would be the perfect opportunity to put the social justice values purported by the new mission statement into action. Yet the Board, and the administration, decided to work in private, without student input, to squelch student support for Palestinian human rights and equality.
The students have attempted to work with the administration and the Board of Trustees in good faith through the proper channels since the passing of the resolutions last Spring. Unfortunately, the Board of Trustees refused to put the resolutions on the agenda of their meeting and discussions have only taken place off the record, without transparency and excluding student input. On top of that, Evergreen President Les Purce met behind closed doors with Israeli Consul General Akiva Tor and formally dismissed the vote for divestment. According to public records requests, Stand With Us, a right wing pro-Israel group who have blatantly attempted to intimidate and disrupt a peaceful gathering of anti-Occupation Jewish organizers in the Bay Area, was given assurances by the Vice President’s Office of Student Affairs that divestment is off the table.
These actions set a precedent for the College to dismiss student-led initiatives. By ignoring the student voice, the Board of Trustees and administration betray Evergreen’s values as a student-led institution and it is a grave disappointment that the administration and Board of Trustees are unwilling to work proactively with the campus community to end the College’s complicity in human rights abuses. But this isn’t the first time the community has pushed for divestment at Evergreen and faced a brick wall.
In 2003 after Evergreen student Rachel Corrie was killed by an Israeli Army Caterpillar bulldozer, while protecting a Palestinian family home in the Gaza Strip, alumni, parents, staff and faculty worked to make divestment a tangible action to bring peace and justice to Israel/Palestine. In 2005, the family of Rachel Corrie pulled their funds for the Rachel Corrie Scholarship out of the Evergreen Foundation because the foundation could not guarantee they were not invested in the company which produced the D-9 Caterpillar bulldozer that killed their daughter.
Numerous meetings between Evergreen community members and Evergreen’s President, the Vice President of Student Affairs, and the Vice President of Finance took place over the years. Invited by Evergreen students, members of Jewish Voice for Peace and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation presented to the Board of Governors in 2006 about the human rights abuses perpetrated against Palestinians. This resulted in no change to their investment policy, despite ongoing communications between the students, the foundation and college administrators. In the past eight years students, faculty, staff, parents and alumni organized, educated, rallied, and protested. The long years of work are paying off with the support that Divestment has at Evergreen.
With the adoption of a mission statement that values social justice and the support for Divestment on campus, now is time for the Board of Trustees to put their money where their mouth is.
The newly formed chapter of Olympia Jewish Voice for Peace and TESC Divest asks Evergreen students, alumni, and community members to speak at the Public Comment Period during the next Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday, May 11th at 2:45pm in Evergreen’s Library Boardroom 3201. Unfortunately, for the first time the Board has scheduled the public comment period to conflict with the Student Activities Fair and part of the Spring Academic Fair, possibly limiting the participation of the students and faculty. In the last year, all other Board of Trustees Public Comment Periods were held at 1:00 or 1:30pm. Students were not aware of this change until the afternoon of Wednesday, May 4th.
The next step for the administration and Board of Trustees to regain the student’s trust is to begin to make amends for not respecting the student voice and the democratic process of the campus-wide election.
We Will Divest!
(For more information on TESC Divest visit www.tescdivest.org).
Contact:
info@tescdivest.org
Olga Rocheeva
Emily Weisberg
www.tescdivest.org
Letter of support from Palestinian students
Stand with Desmond Tutu, Support the Initiatives