ASUO passes a resolution calling on UO to divest from genocide
Read our press release here
Eugene, Ore. - The University of Oregon Gaza Solidarity Encampment, May 9th, 2024
Last night, May 8th, 2024, the Associated Students of the University of Oregon passed a resolution supporting the encampment’s demands surrounding the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The resolution passed after several hours of waiting and discussion from onlookers and the ASUO senate. It passed shortly after 11 PM and was celebrated throughout the encampment and throughout the larger community. We have been on this lawn for ten days, through three inches of rain in a weekend, and through freezing nights. Joy has, and must have, a central role in all our work; this feeling was reflected in the chants that led the way back to the encampment and our community celebration.
This resolution is an important step in having our demands met. Our work is not done; the resolution itself will not divest funding but rather represents a demand from our student government for administration to comply with the encampment’s demands of divestment. We will continue to protest, to negotiate, to talk, and to stand in solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinian people. We hope the passing of this resolution shows the larger student body and the larger community that the goals of the encampment are not extraordinary, that it should not be radical to do everything possible to avoid funding a genocide. Rather it is necessary, no matter how hard we must work to make our voices heard. The students, united, will never be divided; when we fight, we win.
The passed resolution calls for the University of Oregon to divest funding from any member companies of the military-industrial complex. With this resolution, ASUO demands the University of Oregon Board of Trustees to "cease the purchasing of products from any current companies on the BDS list ("boycotted companies"), as of May 8th, 2024, including Sabra and HP, until a complete ceasefire and the end of the war crimes perpetrated by Israel". It includes a demand that the UO Board of Trustees divest from Jasper Ridge Partners, who do not uniformly apply ESG criteria to companies that develop and sell products to the IDF. ASUO will call on the University to ensure transparency in the use of I-Fee funds. They will form a commission to address student demands at the UO regarding the conflict; "this commission will extend invitations to representatives from UO Students for Justice in Palestine, UO Jewish Voices for Peace, UO Chabad, UO Hillel, student workers, graduate employees, ASUO representatives, classified staff, and administrators". They will do everything in their power to ensure the safety of Jewish, Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students, and condemn all acts of intimidation and hate speech towards both Jewish and Muslim students.
The UO Gaza Solidarity Encampment commends ASUO for the passing of this resolution. We will continue to stand against the genocide in Gaza and our university's complicity in it until they divest their funding from the military-industrial complex, and our demands are met. Weapons manufacturers do not discriminate - these weapons harm all communities they are used against, including the Palestinians currently in Gaza.
The fight continues. The camp will be holding an “all out for Palestine” day of action tomorrow and invited university administration to open negotiations tomorrow at 10 AM.