University of Maryland students have expressed mixed reactions after the student body voted in favor of calling for divestment in an SGA ballot referendum earlier this month.
The referendum called on the Student Government Association to begin lobbying the University System of Maryland Foundation and the University of Maryland College Park Foundation to divest from certain military and defense companies.
Some students said the referendum’s passage was a success in representing the student body’s views, while others voiced concerns about increased antisemitism and harassment on campus.
More than 3,200 undergraduate students, or about 55 percent of voters, voted in favor of passing the referendum, according to the SGA.
This university wrote in a statement to The Diamondback on April 18 that the results of the referendum have no bearing on the operations or policies of the university or its foundations.
[UMD students vote in support of divestment referendum]
“Now we know where the student body stands. Now we know that students at [this university] want divestment,” senior government and politics major Omar Sabra said. “It was a very big statement and a massive victory for us.”
Sabra, a member of this university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, said the referendum will “steer the university to a better place” and that he hopes this university will listen to students moving forward.
Sabra said the referendum results show that the student body wants this university to end “complicity in human rights violations” across the world.
“I’m elated as a senior to see the divestment resolution passing before I graduate,” Sabra said. “I think that this is a major victory for pro-Palestinian, anti-imperialist voices on campus.”
Conversations about divestment have increased at this university since Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 people hostage in its attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel declared war on Hamas the next day and its military forces have killed more than 52,000 Palestinians since, the Associated Press reported Sunday.
Junior chemical engineering major Mason Loeffler, who voted favorably on the referendum, said it signified the student body’s ability to call for divestment, rather than the SGA.
Similar divestment resolutions failed to pass through the SGA last fall, last spring, in 2017 and in 2019.
“At the end of the day, I think students should have a say in what this university’s money is going to,” Loeffler said. “We want to go to a university that aligns with our values.”
[UMD SGA commission finds students were bribed to vote unfavorably on divestment referendum]
Taylor Faust, a junior criminology and criminal justice major, said she voted unfavorably on the divestment referendum because she believes the referendum’s passing will lead to more antisemitism on campus.
Faust said she has testified at SGA hearings about previous referendums and has been an active voice in discussions about divestment on campus. Divestment campaigns “blur the line” between criticizing Israel and antisemitism, Faust said.
“I’m just hoping [harassment] doesn’t happen on our campus, that everyone is safe and that we can still talk and have dialogue about real, attainable goals for both communities,” Faust said.
Junior neuroscience major Uriel Appel said he didn’t agree with the referendum because of its lack of clarity regarding which companies the foundations are being asked to divest from.
The referendum presented on the SGA ballot did not specify companies. But the act the SGA passed to ask the referendum question on the ballot named companies such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems.
This university has a yearslong multi-million dollar financial relationship with major defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, which donated more than $46 million combined to this university from 2010 to November 2023, The Diamondback reported last June.
Appel, the president of this university’s Students Supporting Israel chapter, said he believes the university might release a response to the referendum results, but that investments will stay the same.He added that he is also concerned about a rise in antisemitism at this university after the referendum’s passing.
Sophomore economics major Anand Kalla, who co-sponsored the referendum, said he hopes the university will listen to students’ call for divestment and take action. Kalla, the SGA Denton representative, said transparency in investments is an important first step toward divestment.
Kalla said it is important for the university to recognize what the student body supports. He said the referendum and lobbying the university’s foundations to divest is a “step to something bigger.”
The university system foundation did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The university system and the UMCP foundation deferred to this university for comment.
