Updated: Friday, March 29th at 2:59 p.m.
Two members of the Harvard Law School Student Government Association resigned Friday morning after the group passed a resolution calling on Harvard Management Company to withdraw from Israel.
The resolution passed 12-4, with three abstentions, after the student government passed an unprecedented motion to make voting anonymous. Members had until 8 a.m. Friday to vote.
According to the resolution that was passed, the HLS Student Government “restricts HMC from all weapons manufacturers, corporations, academic programs, corporations, and other institutions that support the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine and the genocide of the Palestinian people. We formally request a complete withdrawal.”
It also said, “We call on all institutions and organizations within the Harvard University community to withdraw from the Harvard University community.”
However, the group was not completely over passing the resolution. Two members of the HLS Student Government Association, Regina De Nigris and Cameron Adkins, resigned Friday morning.
In their resignation letters obtained by The Crimson, the two said they resigned because they “strongly disagree with the resolution being considered by the student government.”
De Nigris and Adkins released a letter Thursday that will take effect after voting on the resolution closes.
In its resolution, the HLS Student Government noted that Harvard has invested “nearly $200 million in companies associated with the Israeli military and illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine,” and that HMC has invested “nearly $200 million in companies associated with the Israeli military and illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine.” He pointed out that the company had withdrawn from the tobacco industry in the past.
The resolution is the first passed by student government for the 2024-2025 academic year and also references similar divestment resolutions from peer universities such as Brown University, Columbia University, Stanford University, and the University of California, Berkeley. ing.
A spokesperson for Harvard Management Company did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement Friday afternoon, university spokesman Jason A. Newton cited former university president Lawrence S. Bacow’s response to the Crimson Editorial Board’s 2022 edition, saying, “Harvard leadership “We have made it clear that we oppose policy calls to boycott academic institutions.” Support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
In De Nigris and Adkins' resignation letter to the Harvard Law School Student Government Association and Student Organization, they stated that the anonymous resolution passed at the March 26th meeting violated the provisions of the Student Government Bylaws. He claimed that there was a violation and stated the following: All votes of the Student Council shall be held in public meetings and the minutes shall be publicly available. ”
The pair, both 1L representatives, also stated that anonymous voting violates student government rules, stating that “the only method of voting on resolutions shall be by roll call or applause.”
According to a public copy of the meeting minutes, student council members made a motion to “amend the bylaws to allow the student council to consider and vote on this resolution via a private Google Form rather than an in-person roll call list.” It is said that it was approved. Regarding harassment and privacy concerns, 12 of 14 eligible members voted in favor of her.
Additionally, Mr. De Nigris and Mr. Adkins claim that the resolution further violates the bylaws' “requirements for the student council to consider the resolution in the first place,” and that I cited the clause that explains how it will be taken up.
“Any student can create a resolution, but for it to be considered by the student council, the author must either (1) have the resolution passed by a committee of the student council, or (2) receive an absolute majority of the student council. “Support must be obtained. A list of supporters must be submitted to the Student Council President at least 12 hours before the general meeting,” the bylaws state.
De Nigris and Adkins added that the resolution was drafted “without a meaningful opportunity for interested students to provide input or express potential concerns.”
With Friday morning's vote, HLS Student Government joined a wave of protests on Harvard's campus. Student organizations held joint rallies and demonstrations, calling for the university's financial divestment from Israel.
The resolution was first proposed in an email sent March 20 by Swap Agrawal and Tolu Aregberiye, co-presidents of the HLS student body.
In an email obtained by The Crimson, Agrawal and Aregbelai drafted the resolution in response to “a call for student government and Harvard University to emerge as institutions that emerge from Israeli military occupation, apartheid, and genocide.” I wrote that I was planning to submit it.
Mr. Agrawal and Mr. Aregbelai then explained the gravity of the resolution and called for an emergency delegate meeting for attendees to discuss and edit the draft.
An emergency meeting held on March 26 (in addition to the Student Government Association's scheduled final Thursday meeting of the term) raised concerns about the content and wording of the resolution, including concerns that it was “too broad.” Discussion included.
A motion was then proposed to put the resolution on hold until the next student government was formed, but it failed.
In addition to the secret voting procedure for Friday's resolution, the student government removed the names and email addresses of current members from its website.
Agrawal, the author of the resolution, said in a statement to The Crimson that he introduced the resolution in response to requests from numerous HLS students.
“Many law students had hoped that the situation in Gaza would improve,” he wrote. “As Israel continued to ignore these measures, students felt strongly that this was necessary to put pressure on things to change.”
“The resolution does not define aid to genocide,” Agrawal said, detailing the text of the resolution.
“In the context of donations, that aid includes funding to companies that support the illegal occupation of Palestine and the ongoing genocide of Palestinians, as determined by the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner,” he wrote.
Mr. De Nigris and Mr. Adkins also criticized Mr. Agrawal and Mr. Aregbelai's decision to call off the vote after the new student government had already been elected and announced on Thursday.
“This resolution was forced through at the last possible moment in order to avoid the expiration of this student government's term, and perhaps to protect the student government from opposition.” they wrote.
Agrawal and Aregbelai announced the new student government leadership for the 2024-2025 academic year in a statement Thursday.
“The situation is dire and I feel we need to act now,” Agrawal wrote in response to criticism over the resolution's timing. Agrawal did not explain why no resolution had been introduced since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.
Agrawal said the student government circulated the resolution widely to solicit feedback.
“According to the emails I received, the majority of students strongly believe in this resolution,” he wrote in a statement to The Crimson. “However, some students are asking their representatives to vote against it.”
“We have expressed our differences to the Student Government Association at every opportunity,” De Nigris and Adkins wrote in their resignation letters.
“However, our concerns were put aside,” they added.
Hours after the vote was announced, Justice Palestine of Harvard Law School called the resolution “a feat of student organizing.”
HLS' Jewish Law Students Association also issued a statement strongly opposing the resolution.
“As Jewish leaders, we condemn this resolution that singles out the only Jewish state in this student government, which does not represent us, nor many of the hundreds of people we represent. There is no need to do so,” they wrote.
—Staff writer S. Mac Healey can be reached at mac.healey@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @MacHealey.
—Staff writer Saketh Sundar can be reached at saketh.sundar@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @saketh_sunder.
