UC Berkeley and the Israel divestment bill
May 2Over the past few weeks, international attention has turned to the University of California (UC) Berkeley. On March 17, the UC Berkeley Student Senate passed a resolution that the university should divest itself of companies in which it owns stock that conduct business with Israel. The resolution targets over $130 million purportedly invested by UC Berkeley in two companies, General Electric and United Technologies, which supply jobs, military equipment and electronics to Israel. On March 24, the Student Body President of UC Berkeley, Will Smelko, vetoed this divestment bill; Smelko called the resolution "a symbolic attack on a specific community" that is "being used as a tool to delegitimize Israel." On April 14, the Student Senate voted on whether to override the President's decision in the packed and contentious senate meeting. Twelve voted in support of Israel divestment, with seven against and one abstained. Since a two−thirds majority vote of the senate is needed in order to override a presidential veto, the resolution to divest from Israel did not pass. Nevertheless, the vote was tabled again for April 21, but the president's veto was not overturned then either. On April 28 the final decision to not divest was established.
