Columbia Engineering students vote in favor of divestment from Israel, joining other colleges in the university-wide movement. 

According to the Engineering Student Council (ESC) weekly newsletter, the majority of the  Columbia’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) student body has voted to divest from Israel. The information was made available to the public via an Instagram post published Saturday by SEAS Divest. This decision follows similar actions by Barnard College and Columbia College, both of which previously held student votes on the matter. The SEAS Divest post incorrectly states that the General Studies student body also voted to divest from Israel. The General Studies Student Council (GSSC) announced in May that a referendum to vote for divestment did not pass. 

SEAS Divest is an autonomous group of undergraduates advocating for the school’s divestment from Israel. The SEAS Divest survey was held at the end of the Spring semester, and the results have been made available now. In the post, they expressed their opposition to and rejection of Columbia University’s association with companies they claim engage in “war profiteering.” They emphasized the importance of aligning with and upholding the University’s ideals of “Engineering for Humanity” through divestment.

The survey consisted of three questions posed to the SEAS student body. The first question in the voting process regarded financial divestment, asking whether the SEAS student body should “recommend that Columbia University divest all stocks, funds, and endowment and withhold further investment in companies that profit from or financially support the State of Israel.” 74.5% of respondents voted yes, 4.7% voted no, and 20.7% abstained.

The second question concerned the cancellation of the Tel Aviv Global Center. It stated, “Should the Columbia Engineering student body recommend that Columbia University cancel the opening of the Tel Aviv Global Center?” to which 68% of respondents voted yes, 9.2% voted no, and 22.8% abstained. The third question centered the cessation the Dual Degree Program with Tel Aviv University, asking whether the SEAS student body should “recommend that Columbia University cancel the Dual Degree Program between Columbia University and Tel Aviv University,” to which 62.4% of respondents voted yes, 11% voted no, and 26.7% abstained. 

SEAS Divest concluded the post by saying that the SEAS student body has “overwhelmingly voted for Columbia’s divestment from Israel and the War Machine.” The divestment survey results were made available to the SEAS student body via a weekly Engineering Student Council (ESC) newsletter, which was consequently posted to the Instagram story of the SEAS Divest Instagram account. 

Editor’s Note: At 11:55 am, the article title was changed to reflect the fact that the referendum was passed by the student body, not by the School of Engineering itself.

SEAS Mudd Hall via Bwog Archives