In a special meeting today, the Brown University Community Council voted to recommend that five student representatives 鈥渃onducting activism for divestment鈥� be allowed to present their case for divestment from 鈥�companies which profit from human rights abuses in Palestine鈥� before the Corporation. The council also voted to recommend that charges be dropped against 41 students arrested at a Dec. 11 sit-in.
The first motion passed with 17 yes votes, 13 no votes and one abstention. The second motion passed with 17 yes votes, nine no votes and five abstentions. Voting was conducted anonymously via a Google Form. Before each vote, council members took turns speaking to discuss the motions on the table, ask clarifying questions and propose amendments.
Today鈥檚 vote took place virtually on Zoom after being pushed from last Monday鈥檚 meeting, when Provost Francis J. Doyle brought a motion to postpone it due to President Chistina Paxson P鈥�19 P鈥橫D鈥�20 being in virtual attendance.
The meeting was moved virtually 鈥渢o maximize opportunities for attendance and ensure that voting can be done via online polls,鈥� according to an internal email to BUCC members reviewed by The Herald. The special session was also limited to one hour with no opportunities for public comment, unlike traditional BUCC meetings.
The BUCC is a 38-member University advisory body made up of current undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, faculty, staff, trustees and administrators. The council is charged with the ability to 鈥渃onsider and advance questions of University community policy, the governing of the University 鈥� and to make recommendations regarding any such matters to the appropriate decision making bodies,鈥� according to its .
Recommendations passed by the BUCC are non-binding and made in an advisory capacity.
Ma. Irene Quilantang GS, who brought the motion last Tuesday to allow students to present their case to the Corporation, recounted the University鈥檚 history of divestment during the meeting. Quilantang referred to Brown鈥檚 1987 divestment from South African apartheid.
鈥淲e divested because we recognized that divestment does not mean that we are taking sides, but rather that it is a step towards neutrality,鈥� she said.
Brown community members holding banners reading 鈥渄rop the charges鈥� and 鈥渁dvance divestment鈥� were visible standing behind Quilantang. The demonstration was organized by the Palestine Solidarity Caucus and the Graduate Labor Organization, according to GLO President Sherena Razek GS.
BUCC member and Swearer Center Executive Director Mary Jo Callan asked Paxson whether she had previously discussed the Brown Divest Coalition鈥檚 critical edition of a 2020 ACCRIP report with the Corporation.
Though the Corporation discussed the divestment proposal during their February meetings, 鈥渢here was pretty strong consensus that a new proposal should go through the established process鈥� to make sure that all members of the community had an opportunity to give input,鈥� Paxson responded.
Council member and Senior Lecturer in Classics David Buchta proposed an amendment to the motion to specify that the council recommends that five students present a divestment proposal to the Corporation. The amendment passed with 26 yes votes, one no vote and four abstentions.
Council member and Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science Ainsley LeSure asked why Paxson did not approve the 2020 ACCRIP report鈥檚 recommendation on divestment.
In response, Paxson said that advisory committees on investment are 鈥渘ot always supposed to determine whether or not there鈥檚 social harm. They鈥檙e supposed to assess: 鈥� how will it have an impact on that social harm? Will it matter?鈥� According to Paxson, these concerns were inadequately addressed in the initial report.
Paxson also distinguished between current and past demands for divestment.
鈥淲hen the university divested from South Africa, there was a very clearly defined list of companies that were and were not abiding by the Sullivan principles. That was easy. Divesting from tobacco, we knew what tobacco companies were,鈥� Paxson said. 鈥淒ivesting from companies that are implicated in occupation 鈥� it鈥檚 very different from any divestment action that Brown has ever taken before. And I think that鈥檚 a serious concern.鈥�
When discussion moved to the second motion on the table, which concerned dropping charges against 41 students arrested in December, Senior Vice President for Communications Cass Cliatt said that the University should 鈥渢each accountability for (students鈥�) choice.鈥�
鈥淎s a Black woman, I鈥檝e struggled with this idea of galvanizing change through a deliberate choice and then asking for the charges against me to be dropped,鈥� Cliatt said. 鈥淲hen I think about the history of civil disobedience, there wasn鈥檛 the privilege to ask for charges to be dropped 鈥� So I struggle with this idea of changing a narrative of what protesting activism is at the last moment.鈥�
Aiyah Josiah-Faeduwor 鈥�13, who brought the motion to recommend charges be dropped at last Tuesday鈥檚 BUCC meeting, responded that the arrested students 鈥渁re not asking for their charges to be dropped.鈥�
鈥淲e are advocating on their behalf,鈥� he added.
At the end of the meeting, Paxson thanked council members and said that while she considered the vote and the discussion was 鈥渁dvisory to me.鈥�
Prior to proposing the motions last Tuesday, BUCC members had discussions with representatives from the Palestine Solidarity Council and the Graduate Labor Organization.
鈥淲e mobilized the community council in the weeks leading up to this vote to take the two motions to the table which are consistent with GLO鈥檚 demands to divest and drop the charges,鈥� Razek wrote in a message to The Herald.
Josiah-Faeduwor told The Herald that after witnessing PSC and GLO members speak at multiple BUCC meetings this semester, he and other BUCC members 鈥渢ook the stand together to hear them out, our own politics aside, simply for the fact that we as a community body should be responsive to asks of us and not dismissive.鈥�
Razek 鈥渁nd PSC were prime movers here,鈥� BUCC Executive Committee Member Daniel Newgarden 鈥�25 wrote in a message to The Herald. 鈥淲e鈥檇 put divestment on the schedule as an executive committee far in advance, but without PSC getting involved,鈥� a vote would have been unlikely, he wrote.
According to Newgarden, discussions with PSC began in early April. In the following weeks, he and other BUCC members reached out to the rest of the council, meeting with faculty and administrators to discuss potential motions. The final vote tallies exceeded what they expected, Newgarden added.
鈥淭oday I did, and will always do, what young people ask of me 鈥� because they are seeing and living through a reality we are further and further removed from,鈥� Josiah-Faeduwor wrote in a message to The Herald. 鈥淚鈥檓 glad the votes passed, but these votes were asking for the bare minimum from a committee ostensibly dedicated to serving the community, and they barely passed.鈥�
After both motions passed, Josiah-Faeduwor and Newgarden walked out to the encampment on the Main Green.
鈥淒espite this being a BUCC vote, it鈥檚 an effort of the broader campaign for divestment and was supported by the whole coalition, and I was so grateful to be part of it,鈥� Newgarden wrote.
鈥淭he encampment is ecstatic that the BUCC started to pass these two resolutions, they are exactly our demands,鈥� a BDC spokesperson told The Herald. 鈥淭his shows that even though the BUCC is an advisory council, the Brown community is behind this wider push for divestment.鈥�
In his two years on the council, the council has never voted on a recommendation, Josiah-Faeduwor said. He recalled corresponding with Paxson in March about bringing 鈥渕ore constructive dialogue鈥� to BUCC sessions.
In an email Josiah-Faeduwor shared with The Herald, Paxson responded that she had 鈥渃ome to the conclusion that discussions in forums like the BUCC 鈥� with a lot of people in the room, cellphones out, and 猫咪社区 coverage 鈥� will necessarily be performative rather than productive, at least as currently structured.鈥�
鈥淲e may need to rethink how these meetings work next year,鈥� Paxson wrote.
Cliatt wrote in an email to The Herald that 鈥渢he president wasn鈥檛 characterizing the 鈥榝orums like the BUCC鈥� as performative, but rather she was speaking of what happens to 鈥榙iscussions鈥� when there are certain environmental factors that make them spectator events.鈥� She added that the presence of an 鈥渁udience factor鈥� might impede discussions.
鈥淭herefore, we鈥檙e considering that the format might need to be restructured to ensure thoughtful discussions where we minimize the potential that participants feel in any way influenced鈥� or that they feel hesitant to share their views at all鈥� due to possible recording for social or news media, Cliatt wrote. 鈥淭his is when more productive discussions can happen.鈥�
Clarification: This article was updated to reflect LeSure's full title.
Anisha Kumar is a section editor covering University Hall. She is a sophomore from Menlo Park, California concentrating in English and Political Science who loves speed-crosswording and rewatching sitcoms.
