UNM students’ call to dump Israel investments inspired by struggle against apartheid South Africa

Students, families and community members held a rally on Monday night at the Duck Pond on the main UNM campus in Albuquerque. (Photo by Shaun Griswold / Source NM)

Compelled by six months of relentless military assault on Palestinians in Gaza, and inspired by protests across the U.S., students at the University of New Mexico have organized a protest encampment where they intend to stay until the administration agrees to cut all economic and academic ties with the state of Israel.

Students, faculty and community members are asking UNM to disclose all financial investments with Israel, divest from all institutions profiting from the genocide of Palestinians, speak up and publicly call for an immediate ceasefire, and boycott all Israeli educational institutions and study abroad programs.

The camp at UNM draws inspiration from the Columbia University Apartheid Divest coalition, which organized the Gaza Solidarity Encampment in reaction to that university suspending Students for Justice In Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace in the fall of 2023.

However, UNM students have had their own divestment campaign since last fall. As UNM students from different departments and schools began to organize and coordinate their activities, a large meeting of students was held during the first week of November 2023.

From that initial meeting, students agreed Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a proven, nonviolent means of pressing the Israeli government to comply with international law, said Anton Dababneh, a Jordanian-American UNM law student who is passionate about constitutional law and international law, and who helped draft the resolution.

“BDS has definitely worked in the past, and is still a very viable option that each individual or institution can participate in,” he said. “You’re not waiting on anybody to do something.”

The UNM Gaza Solidarity Encampment sits on the main campus in Albuquerque on a grassy patch between a man-made pond and the administration building where the university’s Board of Regents meets.

“It’s about putting Palestine in the center of everybody’s view, whether they like it or not,” said Siihasin Hope (Diné), a UNM alumni and community organizer who is staying at the camp. “We’re willing to camp out for as long as it takes for there to be a free Palestine.”

The regents, appointed by New Mexico’s governor and approved by the Legislature, have ultimate authority over all of the university’s spending, according to state law.

The draft resolution would, in part, have the regents “investigate all financial holdings and dissociate the University from any activities which reasonably appear to lend direct or indirect support or assistance to the perpetuation of (Israel’s) racist political order against Palestinians.”

It cites a previous resolution passed by a prior Board of Regents in 1985, which led to UNM dumping its investments in apartheid South Africa about a year later.

“South Africa is not the only country where human rights are being violated, and [the Board of Regents is] urged that future university policy take into consideration the investments in these countries also,” the regents said in their 1985 resolution.

Ernesto Longa, head of United Academics of UNM and law school faculty, found the old resolution in archived board minutes and sent it to student organizers. Holly Duffy, a UNM law student focused on human rights and corporate accountability, said the 1985 resolution helped them condense many pages of research into a single document.

“Prior boards have encouraged us to keep up a vigilance on these matters, and so here we are to highlight a state engaged in terrible human rights violations and violations of international law,” Longa said.

The demand to investigate and disclose the University of New Mexico’s financial ties to Israel comes from the opaque nature of its endowment pool, he said.

Through a public records request, Longa asked the university for information about its investments and found public money parked in half a dozen offshore hedge funds, but no details about those funds’ actual holdings.

The original resolution was drafted by Southwest Coalition For Palestine, the UNM Muslim Student Association, UNM College Dems, and the Law Students Against Imperialism. Then in March, the groups started contacting other organizations to sponsor it, said Donia Hijaz, a Palestinian-American graduate student in the psychology department who helped draft the resolution.

Thirty-five groups have signed on as of Monday, according to a list Hijaz shared with Source New Mexico.

After the rally, students, families and community members marched into the Student Union Building, where they set up tents on the second floor. A person with a bullhorn said they don’t plan to leave any time soon. (Photo by Shaun Griswold / Source NM)

On Monday night, students, families and community members held a rally at the pond and then marched into the Student Union Building, where they set up tents on the second floor. A person with a bullhorn said they don’t plan to leave any time soon.

At 8:30 p.m., 30 minutes before the building was scheduled to close, the UNM Police Department issued a text alert about the protesters, saying the building is closed. “Please avoid the area until further notice,” the police said.

Also on Monday, students and staff at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces launched their own solidarity encampment. They share the same demands as their UNM counterparts.

Hijaz said students led divestment at UNM from South Africa in 1985, and they are leading this divestment campaign now.

“The U.S. is at a risk of no longer being a democracy in how they’re silencing students,” she said.

More than 100 protesters, including several now at the camp, attended the regents’ Feb. 15 meeting to demand the university call for a ceasefire in Gaza and for UNM to divest from Israel, just after students walked out of class in solidarity with Palestinians.

At the meeting, Regent Sanchez Rael said in the 1980s during apartheid, she was “on your side of the room protesting, so I feel you, and I respect you.”

“We will ask our leadership to consider the input we’re getting today and advise the board and work with the board on what may be appropriate next steps,” Rael said.

On March 4, UNM President Garnett Stokes said in her State of the University address people shouldn’t be surprised if the university as an institution stays neutral.

“Ultimately, there may at times be no message and I know this will be unsatisfying to some,” she said. “By prioritizing dialogue over pronouncements and investing in genuine community engagement we can foster a culture of understanding and mutual respect that strengthens our lobo community.”

Dababneh highlighted a troubling contradiction at UNM: while many campus events begin with an acknowledgement that the university is situated on land from which the original inhabitants were forcibly removed, there seems to be a disconnect when it comes to discussing similar injustices committed against indigenous peoples in other parts of the world.

“The university should really recognize that it has a unique responsibility to take this very seriously because of the acknowledgement and recognition of the past injustices that happened in this state against the first peoples of New Mexico,” he said. “We want to be active participants in history, rather than passive subjects of it.”

Source New Mexico Editor Shaun Griswold contributed reporting to this story.

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