President cites ‘longstanding position’ against academic boycotts
Georgetown University’s student body voted to divest from Israeli-linked companies this week, but the school refused to comply.
With nearly 30 percent voter turnout, almost 68 percent voted in favor of the referendum, while 32 percent voted against it, the Georgetown University Student Association election commission announced in a post on X Tuesday.
However, less than an hour after the results were made public, Interim President Robert Groves announced the university would not comply with the demands of the proposal, The Georgetown Voice reported.
“Georgetown will not implement this referendum, based on our institutional values and history and existing university resources and processes that address our investments,” Groves wrote in an email to the student body.
Groves wrote that Georgetown maintains a “longstanding position” against academic boycotts.
He referenced a statement by former President John DeGioia, which reads, “A boycott of Israeli universities undermines the academic freedom vital to the Academy’s mission.”
Groves also cited the school’s Socially Responsible Investing Policy, which affirms Georgetown’s commitment to ethically managing the university’s endowment while striving to maximize returns to ensure “intergenerational equity.”
Still, a Muslim advocacy group called the Council on American-Islamic Relations commended Georgetown students for passing the resolution in a statement Wednesday.
“Despite extreme efforts to smear and silence college students critical of the Israeli government’s war crimes, students at Georgetown and other students across America are showing that those efforts have failed,” the group wrote.
“The Israeli government and its supporters have lost the rising generation, which has been able to witness both the crimes committed against Palestinians with American taxpayer dollars and the un-American attempts to suppress college students,” CAIR wrote.
The group concluded by calling on the university to “heed their call for divestment from any companies connected to the war criminals of the Israeli military.”
The resolution asked voters to “support Georgetown University … upholding its Socially Responsible Investment Policy, through divesting from companies arming Israel and ending university partnerships with Israeli institutions,” The College Fix previously reported.
To pass the proposal, at least 25 percent of the student body needed to participate in the vote, and a simple majority of those voting needed to support it.
The referendum faced criticism from some GUSA members, as the student government sidestepped standard procedures to put it up for a vote.
The GUSA also faced backlash when it initially scheduled the vote for April 14-16 during Passover week. However, the vote was moved to April 26-28.
MORE: Harvard rejects student demands for divestment from Israel
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Demonstrators march on the White House in Washington, DC, to protest Israel; Ryan Beiler/Shutterstock
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