The College Fix

It sure is fun to watch the separation of powers play out in student government. And also what happens when a raunchy comic gets involved.

The University of California-Davis student court has overruled its student senate’s approval of an Israel divestment resolution, saying it doesn’t have the authority to speak on an issue that’s not “primarily concerning student welfare”:

We have found Senate Resolution #9 of 2015 to be PRIMARILY a political document and did not deal with student welfare to the extent that allowed the ASUCD Senate jurisdiction to pass. We also conclude however that Senate is free to pass Resolutions concerning “Divestment” and topics related to Senate Resolution #9 so long as the focus and primary purpose is with Student Welfare and not a political one.

The court said it would release “the reasoning” behind the verdict next week and present it at the next senate meeting of the quarter.

UC-Davis Divest didn’t do itself any favors by failing to connect the divestment push to student welfare, instead telling the anti-resolution administration last week that it should support divestment because it has “the support of a diverse and broad array of student organizations on campus” and passed by a two-thirds majority.

Try not to chuckle:

The tide of student opinion has shifted across California and the nation, and Chancellor [Linda] Katehi’s failure to acknowledge this new political reality is both shameful and alarming. We view the administration’s position as biased, blatantly undemocratic, and in opposition to students’ freedom of political expression whom she has an ethical and moral responsibility to defend as the leader of a public university that claims to stand by the Principles of Community.

They also complained about “racist harassment and abuse of Palestinian, Middle Eastern, Muslim and other allied supporters” that had “intensified” after the divestment vote, “resulting in a drastically oppressive campus climate. Students have been the brunt of racial epithets, hostility, and death threats on social media to the point where many members of our community feel unsafe to even walk on campus!”

It’s not clear what that refers to other than social-media postings. In contrast, Jewish organizations were physically targeted after the divestment vote, as the Sacramento Bee reported:

A janitor at Hillel House found the words “grout out the Jews” etched into a bathroom wall, and two swastikas were spray-painted on the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.

Divestment supporters were mocked last week by comedienne Roseanne Barr on Twitter, who said she hoped the campus would “get nuked” for the divestment approval after its Jews leave.

That led the senate vice president to post a “Roseanne Barr Resolution” for last night’s meeting, urging Barr “not to nuke the UC Davis campus,” though he told the Bee he was being “facetious.”

Barr has since deleted that tweet but replaced it with the hashtag #NukeUCDavisJewHaters.

#nukeUCDavisJewHaters

— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) February 11, 2015

Read the UC-Davis court ruling.

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