With the divest-from-Israel resolution vetoed for the second — and final — time, U.C. Berkeley student senators voted and failed to pass a new divestment bill at their May 5 meeting, the last one of the semester.
The resolution, authored by ASUC President-elect Noah Stern, sought to form a commission to ensure that no U.C. system assets are invested in the top 100 companies listed by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The list included businesses based in the United States, Israel, Germany, France and Italy.
Student senator Ariel Boone, who said she was the only Jewish senator to vote in favor of the original divestment resolution, abstained from voting on the new bill. Eight other senators abstained, four voted in favor of the bill and five rejected it, Boone said. The new bill needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
“The focus of the bill is too broad,” Boone said, “but I appreciate the different take on how to deal with U.C. divestments.”
The original resolution basically pinpointed two U.S. companies that supplied war materials to Israel.
In the early hours of April 29, the veto of the controversial resolution was upheld, as proponents fell one vote shy of the 14 needed to overturn it.
Thirteen senators voted to override the veto, executed in March by ASUC President Will Smelko. Five voted to sustain the veto and one senator abstained. One senator was not present for the vote.
Meanwhile, a similar divest-from-Israel resolution at U.C. San Diego was debated by the Associated Students Campus Affairs Committee May 5. The committee ultimately voted 7-8 to indefinitely table the measure, according to the Guardian, U.C. San Diego’s campus newspaper.
Because the resolution was tabled during the committee meeting, it was not discussed by the student council at their May 5 meeting.