By Jai’Michael Anderson
On Tuesday, students pressured Student Government Association representatives (SGA) to pass a resolution that would call on the university to end partnerships with companies aiding Israel’s actions in Gaza and provide public financial transparency.
Daydrianna Jeffries, SGA senator, and co-author of the resolution joined around 80 students to march from the Red Barn to The College of Business for a rally before filing into the PNC Auditorium to present the resolution to student representatives.
“Stand on the right side of history. Tonight, every SGA member in this room has a choice. This is not about politics; it’s about ethics — it’s about justice,” said Jeffries ahead of the meeting.
Members of Louisville Students for Justice in Palestine (LSJP), and the Louisville Student Union for Divestment composed most of the group. Their calls for divestment are not a new occurrence; last October marked the beginning of this campaign after a year of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Students are urgently ramping up their messaging following events from the past two weeks, citing them as a “coordinated crackdown” on student organizing. This includes the detainment of Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil, $400 million in federal funds rescinded to Columbia University, along with the advancements of SJR55 (IHRA definition of antisemitism) and HB4 (anti-DEI).
The resolution faced a controversial introduction to SGA with one student representative calling it one-sided and inconsiderate of Jewish students. Other representatives questioned the credibility of the group’s sources and the effects such a motion would have on the student body. Following a failed motion to suspend SGA rules and attempt an early final passage on the resolution, senators voted 36-2 to send the document to the appropriations committee for further research.
“This is not something to target another group, a religion, anyone’s gender [or] age,” said Jeffries in rebuttal. “If you deeply cared about it, you would have read that whole entire thing [the resolution] and looked up all the sources and made sure that they are credible, which they are.”
The document lists 12 demands calling on the university to accessibly disclose funds, condemn Israel’s actions, and commit to protecting the rights of politically engaged students. One of the more notable goals of the resolution would require the university to divest from companies complicit in Israel’s actions against the Palestinian people.
The group identified Honeywell F&T LLC, IBM, Boeing, and Remington Arms as university partners supplying weapons and technology to Israel for military and surveillance. Among the research provided in the resolution, information from the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and Who Profits, a research center that monitors the commercial involvement of Israeli and international corporations, was used to single out the corporations.
This is not the first time U of L students have pushed the university toward divestment. In the spring of 1985 U of L became the first public university in the south to adopt a similar resolution, completely dissolving investments in the South African apartheid state.
“Walking in the same path as students at U of L before us, we revive their legacy with the Louisville Student Union for Divestment to win divestment from another country practicing apartheid in addition to genocide, scholasticide, and ecocide,” wrote union representatives in a statement to the Cardinal.
The appropriations committee will vote on the resolution March 27.
