In the middle of hundreds of onlookers, eight student negotiators met with SFSU President Lynn Mahoney and two other university administrators to discuss four demands: that the university “divest, disclose, defend, and declare.”
The demands are familiar ones. SFSU students and faculty want Cal State to be more transparent about any spending or investments — direct or indirect — supporting Israeli occupation, but President Mahoney was cautious about making agreements.
“We have to discuss what transparency would look like with the investment committee and the company Cambridge does our investments. But yes, I'd be happy to do something more permanent than just responding to this request.”
Next, they brought up calls for divestment “from all companies that actively participate in the ethnic cleansing and colonization of the Palestinian people.” Again, President Mahoney was cautious.
“I welcome the opportunity to look at our investment policy to better align with our role as an agent of social justice. [...] I know at least two presidents are already on board for a similar conversation about their investment policies. Having not spoken to the others, I guarantee there are others who are also thinking this way.”
The students pressed Mahoney on this issue, asking that she guarantee it be added to the agenda before the next Board of Trustees meeting, but Mahoney’s agreement was vague.
“You've all been heard, I hear from the chancellor all the time. Um, I speak to my presidential colleagues more than I ever have. The board, I can guarantee there will be lots of conversation.”
Next students asked that the university “defend the Palestinian people” by rejecting censorship and allowing activism on campus, and that President Mahoney “declare” that what is happening in Palestine is a genocide. But Mahoney declined these requests.
After the conversation, a student negotiator, who declined to give their name for fear of being doxxed, said they would take the discussion back to the caucus in their encampment.
“I want to emphasize that none of these proposals are going to be accepted by just the bargaining team, but that we're going to collectively decide as a movement and as an encampment what we are going to do with these proposals. And with that, I want to also emphasize that this is not just about eight people on a bargaining team. This is about a wider movement to end the genocide and end the occupation.” *cheers*
After the meeting, KALW spoke to Omar Zaza, an assistant professor at SFSU and a member of Faculty for Justice in Palestine. Here’s Zaza.
“We didn't necessarily get super specific commitments, but we did get administration alluding to the fact that they're willing to follow up. So now we're kind of, you know, cautiously, optimistically watching and seeing what's gonna happen next, but never losing sight of the fact that it's really the, the resilience and the power of the students that got us to this point and that will carry us through.”
More than 2,200 people have been arrested on college and university campuses since April 18. President Biden says the protests have not made him reconsider any of his policies, despite Israel’s continued escalation of violence in the region.
