CUNY professors’ union votes to divest from Israel
The resolution notes that the union ‘shall divest its own funds from any investment vehicle that includes in its portfolio stocks and bonds of Israeli companies and Israeli government bonds.’
Many other universities have recently refused to cut off ties with Israel.
The Professional Staff Congress (PSC), a professors’ union at the City University of New York (CUNY), recently passed a measure divesting from Israel.
The resolution, which was passed on Jan. 23 in a tight vote of 73-70, establishes that the PSC “shall divest its own funds from any investment vehicle that includes in its portfolio stocks and bonds of Israeli companies and Israeli government bonds no later than the end of January 2026, and shall continue in good faith to try to meet that investment objective.”
The PSC also condemned Israel’s campaign against the terrorist group, Hamas.
“Many PSC delegates oppose the Israeli government’s conduct of the war in Gaza and are concerned about how the pension funds and union dues of PSC members are invested,” PSC’s President James Davis told The Times of Israel.
The PSC previously passed a similar resolution on June 10, 2021, calling on the union to “consider PSC support” of the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement and calling Israel “a settler colonial state” and an “apartheid” regime.
Though CUNY’s PSC managed to pass the divestment resolution, this development goes against a larger trend that seems to indicate more and more universities are refusing to cut ties with the Jewish state.
[RELATED: Georgia students held sit-in to demand regents divest from Israel]
A CUNY spokesperson has shared the following statement with Campus Reform: “Our University has consistently denounced BDS activity and we condemn the resolution passed by Professional Staff Congress delegates calling on the union to divest from Israeli companies and government bonds while recommending similar measures to the Teachers’ Retirement System pension plan. The PSC-CUNY organization does not speak for the University and this vote does not reflect the University’s position or our values. CUNY will not participate in any form of BDS activity.”
The Universities of Harvard, Virginia, and Brown, for example, have all refused to divest from Israel, despite pressure from anti-Israeli protestors.
Campus Reform has reached out to the City University of New York and the Professional Staff Congress for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
