Rachel Corrie’s college votes for divestment

The student body at Evergreen State College, which the late activist Rachel Corrie attended, has voted to urge the college to divest from companies that supply equipment to Israel’s military.

The students at the school in Olympia, Wash. passed two resolutions. The first, which passed with nearly 80 percent of the vote, “calls for the Evergreen State College Foundation to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, as part of instituting a socially responsible investment policy.” The second resolution, which passed with nearly 72 percent of the vote, “calls on the college to ban the use of Caterpillar, Inc. equipment from campus.”

The vote does not carry actual authority; it just urges the  divestment.

Student divestment resolutions did not pass in recent months at U.C. Berkeley and U.C. San Diego. There, however, the bills were voted on by the student governments, whereas the Evergreen bill was voted on by the entire student body.

Corrie was killed in 2003 in Gaza while demonstrating in front of a Caterpillar bulldozer. She was taking a year off school. Israeli authorities said the killing was accidental. — jta