U.S. University Did Something Crazy: Listened to Student Protesters Instead of Calling the Cops on Them
Sacramento State announced that it will divest from “corporations and funds that profit from genocide” and said, “Student protests and political action are cornerstones of higher education and democracy.”
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Last week, Columbia University summoned an army of heavily armed, riot gear-clad police officers to attack its own students for peacefully protesting Israel’s war on Gaza and the university’s financial ties to Israel. On Monday, the university announced it was punishing protesters by canceling its commencement ceremony for all students on May 15. Columbia’s actions come as college students across the country have been suspended and punished by their schools for similar protests and encampments, and in numerous cases, attacked by police or counter-protesters.
As of Wednesday morning, California State University Sacramento (CSUS)—one of the largest schools in the California State system—announced it would take a different approach and listen to its students’ demands for divestment from Israel. “Student protests and political action are cornerstones of higher education and democracy, and we unequivocally condemn hate and bias in all forms,” the school’s president, Luke Wood, said in a statement. The university then pledged it would no longer have “direct investments in corporations and funds that profit from genocide, ethnic cleansing, and activities that violate fundamental human rights.” Since October, Israeli forces have killed over 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza.
Sacramento State’s updated policy states that it “does not have any direct investments in these areas” right now but, in accordance with students’ demands, its investment portfolios will “remain free of such direct investments.”