UCSB student government uses $15 million budget to play politics, divest from companies like McDonald's
The University of California, Santa Barbara, which has a budget of over $15 million, voted to divest from companies that support Israel.
The University of California, Santa Barbara, which has a budget of over $15 million, voted to divest from companies that support Israel.
According to UCSB Students for Justice in Palestine, the bill passed on Friday by a vote of 18-4-2. Noozhawk, a local news outlet, also reported that the bill passed, which would require the UCSB Associated Students to divest from companies that support Israel.
The resolution states that “No Associated Students funds shall in any way be used to purchase, order, reimburse, fundraise from, promote, or in relation to any products or services from vendors, companies, or other entities listed under the BDS movement’s list of ‘Companies Profiting from the Genocide of the Palestinian People.’”
[RELATED: UC Davis student govt has $20 million budget, uses it to play politics]
Companies that the student government can no longer use funds on include Google, Amazon, Dinsey, McDonald’s, Domino’s Pizza, Papa John’s, Chevron, and more.
Ongoing contracts with any of the list of boycotted companies must not be renewed when they expire, according to the resolution.
Notably, the boycott only applies to “firsthand procurement” and not “secondhand procurement,” which means that “purchases from smaller vendors or corporations owned by boycott targets will not count toward the policy,” the resolution states.
In 2023, the UCSB Associated Students had a budget of $15,818,664.
The UCSB SJP organization wrote on Instagram that the group ”made history.”
”Thank you to the generations of organizers that made this possible and the eight months of persistence and years of dedication!” they wrote.
