‘Flawed … and illegal’: Major university claps back at student gov demanding boycott of Israel

The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) is calling out its student government for passing a resolution demanding an “illegal” boycott of Israel.

The student resolution passed on Wednesday claims that UW’s investments in companies that do business with Israel violates state anti-discrimination law because of Israel’s “apartheid, genocide, and militarized violence.” In its “disappointed” rebuke of the resolution, the university scolded the students for making “a number of flawed, unrelated and illegal demands.”

“UW–Madison recognizes the value and importance of shared governance and when it works effectively, student input can build consensus that can influence university policymaking,” the university’s statement reads. “While we recognize the variety of viewpoints in our community about investment policy and disclosure, resolutions that call for actions that would violate the law do not warrant further engagement.”

University attorneys met with the student government prior to the resolution’s passage and advised them that state law prohibits government agencies, including universities, from adopting any policies that include “a boycott of Israel,” but said the guidance went unheeded.

“Despite the fact that ASM leadership was counseled by university attorneys on the clear illegality of that specific part of the resolution, ASM Student Council nonetheless voted to pass it,” the university wrote.

Students are accusing UW’s investments of funding “human rights abuses,” saying that the Israeli government engages in “discriminatory practices such as apartheid, genocide, and militarized violence.” Because these actions “disproportionately affect people at the intersections of race, gender, religion, disability, and socioeconomic status,” the resolution asserts, the students are accusing the university of violating state law banning institutions from funding discriminatory causes.

The university’s statement accused the student government of trying to limit the number of Jewish and pro-Israel students allowed to speak at the meeting discussing the proposed legislation. An online chat that may have contained student government members allegedly “used an antisemitic term” to refer to these students.

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