BDS
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The Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC) passed unanimously last week a BDS resolution that calls on the student union to strip funding from clubs that “invest in or purchase goods or services from companies that contribute to the settlement and occupation of Palestinian occupied territories by the UN-designated companies or the Israeli state” and to ban stores headed by the ASPC from selling those companies' products, reported the Claremont Independent.

The resolution at the Claremont, California college was authored by campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

Pomona College President G. Gabrielle Starr criticized the ASPC for meeting to vote on the bill “without representation from any student opposition.”

“The resolution’s stated goal of eventually enacting requirements that all student clubs supported by ASPC — not just ASPC itself — comply with its divestment stance or lose funding is also of deep concern, as it would require all students, regardless of their views, to participate in a boycott,” Starr said in an interview with the Jewish Journal. “We urge ASPC to reverse course and allow for full discussion, and we welcome an open dialogue on this matter.”

Janie Marcus, the head of the Claremont Progressive Israel Alliance, echoed Starr’s concerns, telling the Jewish Journal that Jewish students and Hillel were not told about the resolution and were not given an opportunity to comment on it before its passage.

“It really seems more than anything else that they wanted to do this in secret,” she said, adding that the resolution “marginalizes Jewish students who view Israel as the Jewish homeland and directly targets these Jewish students.”

Her organization could have its funding pulled if the resolution is carried out. The same would apply to other campus Jewish groups such as Hillel. “I worry that our club could come under fire and lose funding just because we support Israel.”