This morning, CU Apartheid Divest has released a statement from faculty who support its action in “calling upon the University to take a moral stance against Israel’s violence in all its forms.” The statement expresses that these faculty members are “professionally, intellectually, and morally invested in [their] University” and cites a 2002 student and faculty petition that called for divestment from firms that supplied Israel’s military with arms and military hardware.

Forty faculty members from a variety of different Columbia and Barnard departments have already signed this petition. CU Apartheid Divest invites other faculty members to join the cause by signing here.

Full faculty petition statement:

As both scholars and community members, we are professionally, intellectually, and morally invested in our University. We deem it our duty to hold our institution accountable for the ethical implications of its own actions, notably its financial investments and their implications around the world. In particular, we take issue with our financial involvements in institutions associated with the State of Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian lands, continued violations of Palestinian human rights, systematic destruction of life and property, inhumane segregation and systemic forms of discrimination.

In 2002, faculty members across various departments called for an end to our investment in all firms that supplied Israel’s military with arms and military hardware. Students, alumni, faculty, and staff agreed to attach their name to a call to remove the State of Israel’s social license in its use of asymmetrical and excessive violence against Palestinian civilians.

We now stand with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine as well as with Jewish Voice for Peace in calling upon the University to take a moral stance against Israel’s violence in all its forms. We demand that the University divest from corporations that supply, perpetuate, and profit from a system that has subjugated the Palestinian people for over 68 years. We note that our position unequivocally stands in support of a non-violent movement privileging human rights as the only means toward finding a political resolution.

We call on our University to recognize its undeniable role in, and influence upon, global systems, a distinguished role that comes with a commensurately weighty measure of moral accountability.

Featured image via Barnard Administration site