We, Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine and Claremont Jewish Voice for Peace, call on Pitzer College to suspend its existing exchange with the University of Haifa and not commence any other exchanges or programs with Israeli universities until Israeli universities end their complicity in Israeli apartheid, and ethnic cleansing, including the universities’ discrimination against their own Palestinian students and their failure to support academic freedom and the right to education at Palestinian universities;  

BECAUSE

• In 2018, Pitzer College’s faculty voted to conditionally suspend the College’s exchange with University of Haifa until the above conditions were met. The resolution then moved to the College Council, where it passed again with ⅔ majority

• This marked a historic win for the BDS movement and Palestinian freedom, making Pitzer the first institution of higher education in the country to cut ties with an Israeli study abroad program 

• However, merely four hours after the bill passed, President Melvin Oliver nullified the vote and flew to the University of Haifa to affirm his support of Israeli apartheid, thus undermining the Pitzer community’s embrace of the academic boycott in support of Palestinian freedom 

• Throughout Pitzer’s 60-year history, the Pitzer administration and board of trustees have twice unilaterally rejected a democratic motion set by its College Council or the Student Senate. Both vetoes addressed bills that fought for Palestinian liberation, demonstrating the extent to which Pitzer College disregards community calls for justice in Palestine 

• Pitzer’s “core” values include “social responsibility,” “intercultural understanding,” and “student engagement.” We must hold the college to an ethical and democratic standard regarding their stance on Palestinian freedom, justice, and equality

• Between 1947 and 1948, more than 40,000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes in Haifa alone, and refugees still, to this day, cannot return to their homes. Descendants of these refugees who study at the Claremont Colleges would likely be barred from this study abroad program. How can we have a program that some of our own students cannot participate in due to their ethnicity? 

• Prioritizing human rights, ethical considerations, and supporting the academic boycott is the pinnacle of academic freedom and a larger fight for justice internationally

• Palestinian and Arab students and faculty at the University of Haifa have urged us to take up this fight: “Since we the Palestinian students in Haifa University are banned from supporting or calling for the boycott of Israeli universities and Israeli academia in general, we thank the rallying students for rising the Palestinian cause in American universities.” 

• The call for BDS is more urgent now than ever. Since October 7th, Israel has massacred over 13,300 Palestinians in Gaza. Scholars of genocide, respected human rights lawyers and institutions (see, and see also) have attested that the state of Israel intends to and/or is actively committing genocide against Palestinian civilians;
  

Given the ongoing genocide and the further reasons described above, it is time for faculty and students to take a stand. We cannot learn and teach about colonialism, systemic oppression, and apartheid in classes and look away when called on to dismantle it. The most effective and tangible way we, as members of the Pitzer community can answer Palestinian civil society’s nonviolent call for BDS is to suspend our institutional relationship with the University of Haifa. As the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel asserts, “To enroll, or participate in any way, in a study abroad program at an Israeli institution means ignoring if not perpetuating the ongoing violation of the academic- and, indeed, human- freedoms of Palestinians.” Join us to demand the conditional suspension of Pitzer’s study abroad program at the University of Haifa by signing this petiton. You can find more resources at our website. 

In solidarity and struggle, 

Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine and Claremont Jewish Voice for Peace