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The University of California Student Association board – which represents all 233,000 students enrolled in the UC system’s 10 campuses – approved a resolution on Sunday that calls on the system’s leaders to financially divest from the United States.

The measure cited alleged human rights violations by America such as drone strikes that have killed civilians, and claimed the country’s criminal justice system is racist, among other accusations.

The “Resolution Toward Socially Responsible Investment at the University of California” passed with an overwhelming majority vote of 11-1-3.

“The government of the United States of America is engaged in drone strikes that have killed over 2,400 people in Pakistan and Yemen, many of them civilians,” the resolution stated. “The government oversees, by far, the highest rate of imprisonment in the world, and racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately targeted by law enforcement agencies, particularly for drug-related offences. 400,000 undocumenteducal immigrants are held in detention centers every year, and millions have been deported since the current administration took office, and the government is directly supporting and propping up numerous dictatorships around the world with weapons sales and foreign aid.”

The resolution also called on UC system leaders “to withdraw investments in securities, endowments, mutual funds, and other monetary instruments with holdings” from the governments of Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Russia, Turkey, Israel, Sri Lanka and Mexico, as well as the U.S.

“This resolution aims neither to condemn entire countries, peoples, or communities nor to determine political solutions, but is solely aimed at ending our university’s support of governments that directly engage in and enable human rights violations,” it stated.

A separate resolution passed with a 9-1-6 vote Sunday called for divestment from companies that do business with Israel. That vote was described as a “landmark decision” by progressives for being the “first multi-campus student association to vote in favor of divestment.” The decision was preceded by protests from a large contingent of students who vehemently opposed the measure.

“UC student groups staged a vocal protest during the UCSA meeting, chanting, ‘stop the hate, against the only Jewish state,’ and holding signs telling the UCSA to ‘stop dividing the UCs for an unjust cause,'” StandWithUs reported in a news release.

It is common for universities’ student governments to approve nonbinding resolutions asking their leaders to divest from Israel in what has become known as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, UC Riverside, UC Los Angeles have all passed Israel divestment measures, as have many other student associations at colleges across the nation.

But it’s rare to see a call to divest from America itself.

“Think about that. If they had their way, the student government of the U. Cal. system would require divestment from U.S. Treasuries and most of the world,” Cornell University law Professor William Jacobson points out on Legal Insurrection, responding to the vote. “The U. Cal. student government has proven a point I’ve made repeatedly in terms of the academic boycott: If you are going to boycott Israel, then you need to apply those standards to the whole world, which will result in boycotting yourselves.”

“I’m not glad that the Israel divestment passed, but at least it passed combined with a resolution which made the anti-Israel students and U. Cal student government look like fools.”

But student groups who helped passed the measures have pledged to take their fight to the UC Regents, the 26-member board which governs the University of California.

AZGrizFan wrote:So proud my niece is studying there for her doctorate.

Not.

GannonFan wrote:Are they advocating to no longer take money from the US as well, i.e. grants and student loans? I'm okay with that.

Norway’s $860bn oil fund laid out its growing clout as a responsible investor as it revealed that it had divested itself from more than 100 companies in the past three years and voted against tens of thousands of resolutions at annual meetings.
Yngve Slyngstad, chief executive of what is the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, said it had divested from 49 companies last year — predominantly in coal and gold mining — as it worried about the sustainability of their business models. Since 2012, it has sold out of 114 companies.

The fund also revealed it had supported 85 per cent of board recommendations on resolutions at annual meetings. That meant it failed to support the board recommendations on about 15,000 resolutions last year, including voting against the re-election of Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein as both chief executive and chairman of JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs respectively. It also voted against the issue of new preference shares at carmaker BMW.

The oil fund, which owns stakes in about 9,000 businesses, held 2,641 meetings last year with companies to, in its own words, “increase our understanding of their business and to present our expectations and views on ownership”. It raised environmental, social and governance issues at 623 meetings with a focus on proxy access, equal treatment of shareholders, board composition and the role of the chairman.

On sustainability, the report singled out several companies: retailer Sports Direct, textile group Far Eastern New Century and food producer Viscofan were asked to improve their reporting on children’s rights. Oil companies Rosneft, Whiting Petroleum, Oil India and HollyFrontier were asked to improve their reporting on climate change. Utility Kyushu Electric Power was told to improve its reporting on water management.

The oil fund said it divested from 14 coal mining companies last year, five involved in oil sands, two cement producers, one power producer and 17 businesses in the general mining and precious metals sectors. In 2013, it sold out of companies including 16 gold miners and 11 owners or operators of Indonesian coal mines.

Mr Slyngstad said he expected the pace of divestments to slow as the fund finished several reviews of companies but he added it remained the final sanction if businesses did not respond to its concerns.

travelinman67 wrote:University of California Student Association board has voted to recommend that the Regents divest from America...http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/21178/

Stems from the Boycott Israel anti-Semitism movement...

...the allies of my enemy...

...are my enemy.

Despite that they clothe, feed, educate me and provide my freedom with their lives.



What a pack of fools.

CAA Flagship wrote:Many of them will grow up some day. Until then, they are just random tools without a toolbox.

GannonFan wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:So proud my niece is studying there for her doctorate.

Not.

Nah, good schools, just some crazy folks, that's all.

GannonFan wrote:Are they advocating to no longer take money from the US as well, i.e. grants and student loans? I'm okay with that.

AZGrizFan wrote:

GannonFan wrote:
Nah, good schools, just some crazy folks, that's all.

My neice being one of them "crazy folks". She posted a FB status a couple days ago about "getting to teach the Communist Manifesto...and how it had been a couple years since she'd read it and had forgotten what a wonderful book it was..." I shit you not.

Cluck U wrote:

GannonFan wrote:Are they advocating to no longer take money from the US as well, i.e. grants and student loans? I'm okay with that.

Hey, I'm going to screw around with Bangy later...stay tuned.

Cluck U wrote:

GannonFan wrote:Are they advocating to no longer take money from the US as well, i.e. grants and student loans? I'm okay with that.

Hey, I'm going to screw around with Bangy later...stay tuned.

Ivytalk wrote:

Cluck U wrote:


Hey, I'm going to screw around with Bangy later...stay tuned.

Bangy? Must've missed that one.

Pwns wrote:These idiots would be the same ones protesting if the school's investments tanked and the schools had to hike tuition or close down their department of Multicultural White Guilt studies in order to make ends meet.

mrklean wrote:

Pwns wrote:These idiots would be the same ones protesting if the school's investments tanked and the schools had to hike tuition or close down their department of Multicultural White Guilt studies in order to make ends meet.

Now what the fuck it this shit? Is this some shit the Repukes at FOX News invented?

GannonFan wrote:

Cluck U wrote:


Hey, I'm going to screw around with Bangy later...stay tuned.

He's a clown, and not even a very interesting one like Kalm! (only kidding,... maybe )

∞∞∞ wrote:To be fair, the Communist Manifesto is a good read. It's well written and makes you question your own thoughts on a very fundamental and visceral level. IMO, that's the mark of good literature.

Obviously it outlines an idea that doesn't work in the real world, but like the Bible, Magna Carta, and American Constitution, it's a remarkably revolutionary piece of work.