University of California president says student governments may not join BDS movement
The University of California (UC) has reiterated that student governments may not join the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
In a July 2 letter, UC system President Michael Drake wrote that, while free speech is a core commitment of the university system, students may not boycott individual countries.
The University of California (UC) has reiterated that student governments may not join the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
In a July 2 letter, UC system President Michael Drake wrote that, while free speech is a core commitment of the university system, students may not boycott individual countries.
“University policies also require that financial and business decisions be grounded in sound business practices including competitive bidding,” Drake wrote in the system-wide letter.
“This principle also applies to student governments, where University policy provides that ‘any financial and business activity under the control of student governments is operated in accordance with sound business practices and is consistent with legal requirements and University policies and procedures,’” he added.
“Actions by University entities to implement boycotts of companies based on their association with a particular country would not align with these sound business practices,” Drake continued.
According to a UC spokesperson, the letter was sent to all chancellors in the university system and “reaffirmed existing policies.”
The UC president observed that there is a distinction between individuals expressing their views on hot button political issues and conducting financial affairs in keeping with school policy.
“This letter reaffirms both: the rights of students, faculty, and staff to express their views, and the University’s obligation to ensure that its units do not engage in financial boycotts of companies associated with a particular country,” Drake concluded.
Multiple UC student governments, including those of UCLA and UC Davis, have supported the BDS movement in the past, according to The Algemeiner. The anti-Israel student group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), has also created a “BDS List” of companies to boycott due to their ties to the Jewish state.
[RELATED: NY students go on hunger strike, demand school cut ties with companies linked to Israel]
In 2024, UCLA’s student government voted 10–3 to pass a resolution in favor of boycotting Israel.
The resolution asserted that UCLA administrators “have refused to condemn Zionist settler colonialism, genocide, and apartheid” and “have refused to acknowledge our own complicity in settler-colonial genocide and apartheid.”
Campus Reform reported in April that the UC Davis School of Law had to suspend its student government because of its support for the BDS movement. The organization had approved a resolution titled “UC Davis Law Student Association Boycott of Businesses Connected to Israel and Complicit in Ongoing Genocide and Occupation in Palestine.”
Campus Reform has contacted UCLA and UC Davis for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
