Vanderbilt's Discriminatory Crackdown on Palestine Activism

Palestine Legal has sent a letter to Vanderbilt University, after the administration unilaterally canceled a campuswide vote on a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution set to take place this week.

Vanderbilt Divest Coalition (VDC), representing 18 Vanderbilt student organizations, proposed the resolution, which calls on student government to spend its funds on companies identified by the BDS movement as being complicit in Israel’s crimes. VDC gathered more than 600 student signatures, over three times as many as were required to send the resolution to a campuswide vote. Rather than allowing students to vote on the resolution, the Vanderbilt administration informed the students over their spring break, just a week before the vote was set to take place, that “under federal and state laws, boycotts by U.S. organizations of countries friendly to the United States can result in fines, penalties, or disbarment from contractor status” and that the resolution would not proceed.

Vanderbilt’s administration did not cite any particular federal or state laws that would preclude the BDS resolution from taking effect, much less any that should prevent students from being able to vote on such a resolution. Tennessee does have legislation (SB 1993) on the books taking aim at boycotts of Israel. Under Tennessee law, companies must certify that they are not engaged in a boycott of Israel when entering into contracts with public entities for services, supplies, information technology, or construction valued over $250,000. As Palestine Legal’s March 18 letter explains, the students’ resolution is not a boycott of Israel—only of specific companies targeted for their complicity in Israel’s crrimes. The Vanderbilt Student Government (VSG) only has a total budget of around $200,000 and does not have any contracts with public entities, much less contracts to acquire or dispose of services, supplies, information technology, or construction.

“By refusing to even let students vote on this BDS referendum, the Vanderbilt administration has firmly chosen a side, when they should be providing space for students to have robust discussions about controversial issues and allowing students to exercise their freedom of expression through the established student government channels,” explains Palestine Legal intake attorney Tori Porell.

The letter also addresses numerous recent incidents in which students and organizations who are a part of VDC have been singled out by the administration for harassment and discriminatory treatment, including cancelling of reservations to use university spaces. Vanderbilt’s own Freedom of Expression policy guarantees that the university will “maintain the conditions of freedom of inquiry, thought, and discussion on campus” and commits to institutional neutrality. By cancelling the student referendum and preventing student expression, Vanderbilt is also engaging in anti-Palestinian discrimination in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Read our letter here.

Take Action

The VDC has continued to protest the canceling of the referendum this week, including occupying the chancellor’s office. The university cracked down harshly on the protest, arresting a reporter and suspending several students. Students are collecting donations for a bail fund and asking supporters to call the chancellor to demand that Vanderbilt stop suppressing free speech: (615) 322-1813.