McMaster undergrads endorse BDS motion

McMaster students in support of the BDS motion celebrate. TWITTER PHOTO
Students in support of the BDS motion celebrate. TWITTER PHOTO

Although a motion in favour of the boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS) campaign against Israel was passed yesterday at the McMaster Student Union’s general assembly, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) is raising questions about its legitimacy.

The BDS motion received 622 votes in support, 28 against, and 77 students abstained.

Last year, students voted in favour of a BDS motion, but the assembly did not have quorum, making it a non-binding resolution.

This year, the assembly did have quorum – more than 633 students – and students voted overwhelmingly in favour of the motion, but CIJA’s associate communications director Steve McDonald said the people who introduced the motion did so in violation of the undergraduate student union’s bylaws.

The bylaws state that public notice of any general assembly meeting must be given through student email, in the student newspaper and on the MSU website at least 10 school days in advance of the meeting. Otherwise, quorum must increase to 10 per cent of the MSU membership.

“When this was raised as a point of order, the chair made excuses for why proper notice was not given and decided to ignore the bylaw requirements in favour of some vague clause in the student union’s constitution,” McDonald wrote in an email to The CJN.

“Our perspective is that this motion passed at a meeting in explicit violation of the student union’s own bylaws and constitution. This puts into question the legitimacy of the entire motion.”

The motion, endorsed by Hamilton-based organizations and McMaster student groups including Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, Independent Jewish Voices Hamilton and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War, called on the student body to “commit to identifying and divesting from companies that support or profit from Israeli war crimes, occupation and oppression of Palestinians.”

Raphael Szajnfarber, McMaster Hillel’s director of Jewish student life called the vote “undemocratic” because no time was allowed to debate the issue, “silencing all other student opinions with over an hour still remaining in the meeting.”

He said this, as well as the fact the bylaw about prior notice of the meeting was not enforced, undermined the legitimacy of the vote.

McMaster student Jacob Klugsberg said he drafted an amendment to the BDS motion outlining a general ethical purchasing policy that would have applied to all countries and companies equally.

But Szajnfarber said it was rejected.

“The BDS activists showed their true interest, which has nothing to do with human rights and everything to do with demonizing Israel, and Israel alone, based on discrimination and hate,” he said.

Despite the endorsement of the BDS campaign by the student union, Szajnfarber said he is encouraged by McMaster’s recent commitment to increase partnerships and joint initiatives with Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology.

Judy Zelikovitz, CIJA’s vice president, university and local partner services, said there isn’t a single North American university that has endorsed the BDS movement.

“The McMaster administration should explicitly state that the student union’s discriminatory resolution will have no effect on the university’s policies and programs,” Zelikovitz said.

McMaster spokesperson Gord Arbeau said the university would not be issuing a formal statement against the BDS motion, but he told The CJN that this is a matter for the student union to handle.

“Certainly, we welcome and reaffirm their right to have these discussions and debate these issues, but it is separate from the day-to-day business of the university. It’s a student union matter… and now the students union will determine how to move forward,” Arbeau said.

Last month at McMaster, tensions flared between pro-Israel and anti-Israel students after students staged a die-in to protest a visit by a delegation of four Israelis whose aim was to promote their country’s diversity.

In recent years, student unions at universities such as York, Carleton, Trent, Concordia, the University of Regina and the University of Toronto have endorsed similar resolutions to boycott Israel.

At McGill University last month, however, students voted down a BDS motion at the winter semester general assembly Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU). It was the second such motion introduced at a SSMU general assembly in the current academic year. A motion in the fall was also defeated.

And this week, students at the University of British Columbia are voting in a referendum on whether to endorse the BDS movement. Voting began March 23 and ends March 27. The measure is being endorsed by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights UBC.