On Sunday, Feb. 11, the Pitzer College Student Senate passed Resolution 60-R-5 calling on the administration to suspend the college’s direct enrollment study abroad program with the University of Haifa in Israel. The resolution, which passed with a vote of 34:1 with no abstinences, cites solidarity with Palestine and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The resolution will now move on to the College Council, a group of both students and faculty members, which will vote on Feb. 29 on whether to send it to Pitzer President Strom C. Thacker, who could either pass or veto the resolution.

The Senate’s decision represents a major victory for the longstanding Suspend Pitzer Haifa campaign led by 5C organization Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine (Claremont SJP), demanding Pitzer cut ties with the University of Haifa for its exclusionary practices and its direct ties to Israeli military programs.

“Pitzer College should not partner with a university with a history of human rights violations and unethical practices,” SJP wrote in an Instagram post on Mar. 3, 2023. “As students in the U.S. we should support this academic boycott for international justice.

In a joint press release with Claremont Jewish Voice for Peace (Claremont JVP) on Feb. 12, SJP stated “on day 128 of Israel’s most brutal genocidal attack on Gaza, the stakes for this historic resolution have never been higher.”

The statement cited Israel’s ongoing retaliatory siege which has killed over 28,000 people in Gaza since Oct. 7, as well as Israel’s bombing of Rafah, where roughly one million civilians have sought refuge.

At the Senate meeting on Sunday, Feb. 11, 25 current students, alumni, professors and community organizers spoke on behalf of the resolution during over an hour of open forum discussion. Rounds of applause and cheering followed in support of each speaker from an audience of over 60 people including student Senators and Thacker in the Pitzer’s Founder’s Room.

Speakers consistently highlighted the University of Haifa’s incompatibility with Pitzer’s core values and radical roots, citing the University’s oppression of students from Palestinian ancestry and suppression of student voices who have spoken out for Palestinian liberation as antithetical to Pitzer’s claims of supporting academic freedom. The Claremont SJP and Claremont JVP joint press release elaborated further on this point.

“This resolution, passed in the face of genocide, acknowledges that we cannot responsibly be in partnership with a genocidal state, and that there is no academic freedom for anyone until there is academic freedom for everyone,” the joint releasestatement stated.

Many speakers also referenced the University’s close ties with the Israeli military and its role as a site for Israeli Defense Force training programs. Speakers described the military’s role not just in the killing of Palestinians, but in the destruction of academic institutions in Gaza, a topic further emphasized in the joint Claremont SJP and Claremont JVP release.

“Over 100 universities and schools in Gaza have been systematically destroyed and the entire education system has been completely halted under Israel’s military onslaught,” they wrote.

In a statement sent to students on Feb. 12 Thacker confirmed his allegiance to academic freedom and confirmed that he attended the Feb. 11 Senate meeting.

“President Thacker is committed to the educational mission of the College, to academic freedom, and to maintaining a safe and productive campus learning environment for all,” the statement said.

Still, the statement did not express Thacker’s direct support for the resolution, respecting the Senate’s right to act within Pitzer’s system of shared governance, but distancing it from official college policy.

“It should be noted that the Student Senate does not speak for the College, nor does it represent the views of all Pitzer students,” the statement said.

Still, the Student Senate web page makes a point to highlight its communal representation.

“There are over fifty members of Student Senate, which makes it one of the largest per-capita college student governments in the world.”

The statement concluded with a reaffirmation of Thacker’s alignment to Pitzer’s principles of academic freedom and safety on campus.

“The president will not accept—if and when that time comes—any resolution antithetical to these principles,” the statement said.

Ultimately, Thacker will have the final say on the fate of Pitzer’s Haifa program. Thacker’s upcoming decision will come nearly five years after former President Melvin Oliver vetoed a similar resolution to suspend the Haifa program over human rights concerns, which had passed the Pitzer College Council.

The recent resolution passed on the heels of escalating activism by the Claremont JVP and Claremont SJP, who held a rally on Feb. 2nd urging the College to cut ties with the University of Haifa in solidarity with Palestine.

The rally gained traction on social media, and was posted multiple times on the official BDS Instagram page with 446,000 followers posted multiple graphics about the resolution’s passing. Other accounts such as @SJP National posted as well, totaling thousands of likes in support of the campaign.

If the resolution passes through the college council, Thacker will have the final decision. Regardless of his choice, the Claremont SJP and Claremont JVP statement made clear student voices will continue to be heard.

“When our administration refuses to act, stays silent in the face of genocide, and constantly undermines student activism, we students choose to stand on the right side of history,” the statement said. “The struggle for Palestine requires sustained coalitional support, and we are so thankful for the people who continue to show up for this fight.”