BUZZ
Lawyers disagree over legality of resolution
The University of Wisconsin-Madison criticized the student government this week for passing an Israel divestment resolution after lawyers told them it was illegal.
Prior to the vote, university attorneys informed the Associated Students of Madison that state institutions are prohibited by Wisconsin law from enacting a boycott of Israel. Still, the student council passed the divestment resolution, according to a news release from the school.
The release also states that “the university is reviewing reports alleging that an online chat, including possibly some ASM representatives, used an antisemitic term in reference to limiting potential speakers at the March 18 ASM meeting.”
“While we recognize the variety of viewpoints in our community about investment policy and disclosure, resolutions that call for actions that would violate the law do not warrant further engagement,” it states.
Students engaged in three hours of debate over the resolution Wednesday, during which about 30 Jewish students left the meeting in protest, according to The Daily Cardinal.
Student Ariav Hayempour said “The bill proposed will hurt Jews and Israelis of all identities on this campus.”
“Real challenges deserve real solutions, and resolutions like this are a distraction or worse,” she said.
Arguing in favor of the bill on moral grounds, student Christine Negovani said “money is not immaterial.”
“We need not wield weaponry in a warzone ourselves, our funding is a crime. This is not a vote on the legality of the resolution, this is not a vote to enact [divestment] itself, it’s a call to get it in motion, to start something,” she said.
Students in support of the bill also said they received independent legal counsel which determined the resolution would not violate state law, according to The Daily Cardinal.
Wisconsin law firm Community Law S.C. told the students that “Boycotts are only prohibited if they are intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on or limit commercial relations with Israel or a territory under Israeli jurisdiction.”
The students’ resolution called for the school to stop engaging in any business “with companies complicit in apartheid and genocide, including Israel’s genocide of Gaza.”
“Be it further resolved, the ASM calls on the Board of Regents to remain consistent with their previous divestment from apartheid in South Africa and genocide in Sudan by divesting from ongoing apartheid in Israel and ethnic cleansing in Sudan,” the resolution states.
It also called for the UW System Trust Fund and UW Foundation to disclose all investments and create a student-faculty committee to oversee investments.
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