On Sunday, Feb. 11, the Pitzer College Student Senate passed a resolution to suspend Pitzer’s study abroad program with the University of Haifa in Israel. The legislation, Resolution 60-R-5, passed by a 34:1 majority vote with no abstentions. It now awaits approval from the Pitzer College Council, and if it passes, President Strom Thacker’s signature.
This resolution comes in the wake of Israel’s escalating assault on Gaza and Rafah following the Oct. 7 Hamas-led ambush on Israel. Since last October, Israel’s siege has caused 28,000 deaths in Gaza and resulted in continuous international calls for Israel to de-escalate their attacks in order to “prevent acts of genocide.”
Resolution 60-R-5 and the Suspend Pitzer Haifa campaign are part of a wider push for Palestinian liberation: the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. BDS was adopted by the National Students for Justice in Palestine in 2005. According to the BDS website, the organization’s mission seeks to cut off international support for “Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.”
Calls for support of BDS were echoed at Sunday’s Senate Meeting, where 25 students, faculty, alumni and community organizers testified in favor of the suspension of the Haifa program at Pitzer, the only 5C to offer it. The speakers made statements on the University of Haifa’s discriminatory practices against Palestinian students and students who expressed support for Palestine, as well as addressing the university’s ties to the Israeli military.
The resolution demands that Pitzer suspend the program on the grounds that it supports a university complicit in “Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing.” In a Feb. 12 joint press release from the Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace at the Claremont Colleges (Claremont JVP) — the two groups that introduced the resolution — the organizations further explained their reasoning.
“In addition to consistently marginalizing and abusing Palestinian students since its founding, Haifa is also aiding the current genocide on Gaza by giving academic credit and scholarships to Israeli soldiers, fundraising for more equipment for the Israeli military, and severely surpressing and surveilling Palestinian organizations on campus,” the joint press release stated.
Robinson Lee PZ ’26, the political organizing chair of Pitzer’s Pasifika Asian Student Union (PASU) — a community sponsor of the resolution — explained how he believes the University of Haifa is complacent in the oppression of Palestinian people, noting their tactics they use to disguise their discrimination.
“We see at the University of Haifa how Palestinian students are praised as an example so that the university can say that they’re not racist,” Lee said. “They have Palestinian students, they have students of color, but at the same time, they don’t enfranchise those Palestinian students with the same rights that the Israeli students have in terms of protests, in terms of freedom of speech, in terms of educational opportunities [and] in terms of research.”
Resolution 60-R-5 seeks to address these issues in some capacity by altering how Pitzer establishes institutional relationships with Israeli universities. The resolution emphasized that the suspension would apply only to Israeli universities and that it would not affect any individual scholars or students. It also made clear that it would not impact the admission of Israeli students to Pitzer.
The suspension of Pitzer’s study abroad program with the University of Haifa has been in the works for several years now, with Resolution 60-R-5’s passing coming five years after the Pitzer College Council, a group consisting of students, faculty and staff, voted 67 to 28 in favor of conditionally suspending the program. Less than three hours after this vote, former Pitzer President Melvin Oliver vetoed it, arguing that suspending the program was too political a move.
“The recommendation would effectively cause the College — not some of its constituent members, but the College itself — to take an unavoidably political position on one of the most controversial issues of our time,” Oliver wrote in a statement on March 14, 2019.
In the years since, various students and faculty members at the Claremont Colleges have spoken out and worked against Oliver’s stance of neutrality and have continued to support suspension of the program. Zurayna Fatima PZ ’27, a member of Pitzer’s Student Senate, is one of many students who recently pushed for the resolution’s passing.
“My main reason to support this resolution is because I’m a big believer that civilians have a right to live and that Palestinians have a right to live,” Fatima said. “It’s our responsibility to support their human rights and this [resolution] is only a step in the right direction.”
Sophie McClain PZ ’24, another community sponsor, also pushed for the passing of the resolution. A community sponsor looks over and helps to edit different versions of the resolution with the authors, but does not partake in writing the resolution. McClain described the potential dangers in speaking out as a student, specifically citing a fear of being doxxed.
“Being a community sponsor is a way for me to stand up for what I believe in and put my name and full support on this resolution,” McClain said in an email to TSL. “There is power in being able to put students’ names on resolutions like this one. It can be scary to stand up for what is right and so many students across the 5Cs and the country are getting doxxed for their support of Palestine. At the same time, it is incredibly important to visibly show our college and our community where we stand.”
After the Student Senate passed the resolution, the room erupted in cheers over the decision. Carter Soe PZ ’26, the social media chair of PASU, was present at the meeting and described the reactions as overwhelmingly positive and inspiring.
“It also made me realize how much I love Pitzer as a school, because people here genuinely do care about social justice and change,” Soe said. “They’re not really doing it for publicity, but mainly because they want to see reform not just in the world, but in this institution.”
The Feb. 12 press release by Claremont SJP and Claremont JVP referred to Sunday’s outcome as a “BDS victory.”
“Today marks one step closer to a historic BDS victory, one that will set a monumental precedent for ending American universities’ complicity and investment in Israel,” the press release read. “The fight has only just begun; we will continue building momentum until the official suspension of Pitzer Haifa is passed through the College Council.”
Ezra Levinson PZ ’27, an organizer with Claremont JVP, expanded on this idea of precedent, suggesting that this resolution has the potential to create change at other universities across the country.
“The suspension of Pitzer’s program with the University of Haifa will set a groundbreaking precedent as the first suspension of a United States university academic program with an Israeli university in accordance with the Palestinian call for academic boycott,” Levinson said in an email to TSL. “It will be the first of many. We have a powerful opportunity to lead by example, living up to our core values and acting as an example for our peer institutions across and beyond the United States.”
In referring to Pitzer’s “core values,” Levinson highlighted another major component of Resolution 60-R-5, one that calls attention to Pitzer’s commitment to an education that centers around social justice and responsibility. According to Levinson, this commitment was one of the reasons that he was initially drawn to the college.
“I came to Pitzer to join a community of engaged, critical, socially responsible scholars,” Levinson said. “I have been consistently inspired by the student body’s level of awareness and engagement with global and local issues, including Israel’s ongoing oppression of Palestinians and its current genocide in Gaza.”
In response to the passing of Resolution 60-R-5, Pitzer released a Feb. 12 statement reaffirming Thacker’s support of academic freedom and his commitment to establishing a safe environment on campus.
“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 read. “The president will not accept — if and when that time comes — any College resolution antithetical to these principles.”
It also noted the distinction between the views of the college and its Student Senate.
“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 read.
Levinson appeared to disagree with the statement.
“This resolution passed the Student Senate because it is aligned with the mission of Pitzer College and the desires of the student body,” he said. “It is a meaningful way for Pitzer to push for academic freedom for Palestinians and all who criticize the State of Israel and it is an example of the ongoing, powerful learning and action that has been happening on campus.”
McClain echoed a similar sentiment in commenting on the Feb. 12 statement.
“President Thacker implied that he will not accept our resolution when it gets to his desk after the College Council vote and implied that our resolution is antithetical to academic freedom,” she said. “However, we understand this resolution as critical to academic freedom and see it in line with Pitzer’s core values.”
She then called on the college to take action.
“We invite President Thacker and all Pitzer administrators to listen to the calls of students, faculty and alumni and stand in solidarity with us,” she said.
Lee expressed a similar call for action. He suggested that, while the administration has taken steps to listen to the student body, there is more that can be done.
“It’s important to acknowledge that the Pitzer administration has taken a lot of different steps in order to try to build bridges with different groups,” Lee said. “But what we want to see is that the administration isn’t just engaging in dialogue with us, but engaging in dialogue meaningfully to the point where we believe that they can make certain changes on this campus.”