A Bill in Support of UMass Divestment from Companies that Profit from or Provide Material Support to War Crimes and

/ or Human Rights Violations

Authored By: Rima Mahmoud (Graduate Student), Mousa Musa (Undergraduate Student), Robert Birmingham (Undergraduate Student), Stasha Lampert (Undergraduate Student), Corinne Jager (Undergraduate Student), Daniel Finn (Undergraduate Student), Vonds Dubuisson (Undergraduate Student), Nathan Kelty (Undergraduate Student) Sponsored By: Joey Nguyen, Speaker of Undergraduate Student Senate Endorsed By: Travis Henderson (Undergraduate Student Government President), Joey Nguyen (Speaker of Undergraduate Student Senate), Alexis Marvel (UMass Boston Student Trustee for Academic Year 2012 13), UMass Boston Students for Justice in Palestine, UMass Boston Pakistani Students' Association, UMass Boston Haitian American Society, UMass Boston Muslim Students' Association, UMass Boston Student Union, UMass Boston Socialist Alternative, UMass Boston Womens Center, UMass Boston Asian Students' Center, UMass Boston Turkish Students Center Attachment: Faculty Endorsements

WHEREAS the Mission Statement of the University of Massachusetts Boston expresses an explicit commitment to serving the public good of our city, our commonwealth, our nation, and our world;1 and WHEREAS the University of Massachusetts was one of the first American public universities to divest from companies doing business with the South African apartheid regime,2 and, in 2007, as a result of a student-led initiative, the universitys investment fund, UMass Foundation, Inc. upheld the universitys values by divesting from companies on the divestment list maintained by the Sudan Divestment Task Force (SDTF) and to make no new investments in companies on that list;3 and WHEREAS former UMass President Jack Wilson confirmed that the decision to divest from Sudan is consistent with the Universitys traditions and values;4 and WHEREAS the Minutemen Equity Fund, as part of the UMass Foundation, Inc. is currently invested in Boeing Company; and WHEREAS Boeing manufactures and sells weaponry and air crafts, such as the Hellfire Missile and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, which have been used by the Israeli forces during Operation Cast Lead,5 a twenty-two day military onslaught in which the Israeli forces' actions, according to Amnesty International, constituted direct
University of Massachusetts Boston: Mission & Values http://www.umb.edu/the_university/mission_values/ University of Massachusetts International Relations: Global Reach, Global Impact http://media.umassp.edu/massedu/UMass_International%20Relations.pdf 3 UMass Foundation Moves Forward on Sudan Divestment http://www.massachusetts.edu/news/news.cfm?mode=detail&news_id=210 4 UMass Foundation Moves Forward on Sudan Divestment http://www.massachusetts.edu/news/news.cfm?mode=detail&news_id=210 5 According to Amnesty International the AGM-114 Hellfire missile, which is usually launched from Apache helicopters, was used during Operation Cast Lead and, in one reported occasion, killed three paramedics and a child. The Hellfire missile is produced by Hellfire Systems of Orlando, a Lockheed Martin/Boeing joint venture. Furthermore, according to Boeing Company, the company manufactures and sells to Israel Apache helicopters, such as the AH64 Apache attack helicopter. For information on the Hellfire missiles, Israel OPT: Fueling Conflict: Foreign Arms Supplies to Israel/Gaza, Amnesty International http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/012/2009/en/5be86fc2-994e-4eeb-a6e83ddf68c28b31/mde150122009en.html#sdendnote36sym. For documentation of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopters use in Operation Cast Lead: The Israeli Arsenal Deployed Against Gaza in Operation Cast Lead Journal of Palestine Studies Vol. 38, No. 3 (Spring 2009), pp. 175-191 For information on Boeings Apache sales to Israel, Boeing in Israel <http://en.boeing.co.il/ViewContent.do?id=49082>
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attacks on civilian objects, a serious violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime,6 leading to the deaths of over 1,300 Palestinians, of which the majority were civilians and 412 were children;7 and WHEREAS Boeings historical8 willingness to support military campaigns and its support of Cast Lead in particular has inflicted great damage on civilians in terms of human life, essential infrastructure (hospitals, schools, electricity factories, etc.), and the economy;9 and BE IT RESOLVED that, to uphold our Universitys values and continue a tradition of ethical opposition to war crimes and / or human rights violations, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) demands that the UMass Foundation, Inc. divest its funds from Boeing Company and other entities that perpetuate and profit from war crimes and / or human rights violations. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Undergraduate Student Government will recommend the establishment of a Responsible Investment Committee to monitor future investments to continue upholding our students and our Universitys conscientious refusal to financially support entities that engage in war crimes and / or human rights violations.

6 7

Israel/Gaza Operation Cast Lead: 22 Days of Death and Destruction, Amnesty International

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/015/2009/en/8f299083-9a74-4853-860f-0563725e633a/mde150152009en.pdf Israel/Gaza Operation Cast Lead: 22 Days of Death and Destruction, Amnesty International http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/015/2009/en/8f299083-9a74-4853-860f-0563725e633a/mde150152009en.pdf 8 According to the Human Rights Watch, The first large-scale Israeli military use of Hellfire missiles was in the May 1996 "Grapes of Wrath" Operation in southern Lebanon during which many civilian structures were targeted and some 154 Lebanese civilians were killed, and another 351 civilians were injured.(25) The AGM-114A/B/C/F/K is produced by Boeing Corporation (formerly Rockwell International) and Lockheed Martin (formerly Martin Marietta). Source: No Additional U.S. Air-to-Ground Missiles to Israel, Human Rights Watch, http://www.hrw.org/news/2000/05/22/no-additional-us-air-ground-missiles-israel 9 According to the Human Rights Watch, Since 1996, IDF fighter-bombers have targeted and heavily damaged Lebanese electrical stations three times, at enormous cost to the Lebanese government and civilian population. According to the Lebanese Minster of Electricity and Water Resources, the June 1999 attack cost U.S.$50 million to repair; the February 2000 attack is estimated to have caused twice as much damage; and the May 5 damage may cost the Lebanese utility another $50 million to fix. Source: http://www.hrw.org/news/2000/05/22/no-additional-us-air-ground-missiles-israel; "Israel hits Lebanese power stations, Hezbollah positions," Deutsche Presse-Agentur, February 8, 2000; and Nayla Razzouk, " Israeli strikes plunge Lebanon in darkness," Agence France-Presse, May 5, 2000.

Faculty Endorsements

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

Addo, Ping-Ann Aman, Nurul Annas, Pamela Atwood, Paul Auerbach, Elsa Beckwith, Anna Bilali, Rerzarta Capetillo, Jorge Chowdhury, Elora Cluster, Dick Coll-Tellechea, Reyes Farsakh, Leila Finnoff, Kade Frankenstein, Marilyn Fung, Christopher Geidel, Molly Gounari, Panayota Hess, John Jayadev, Arjun Johnson, Thomas P. Kennedy, Marie Melnyczuk, Askold Millman, Jonathan Penner, Louise Rubin, Rachel Schaeffer, Emmett Schotten, Heike C. Srikanth, Rajini Spiegler, Peter Stuelke, Patricia Tamdgidi, Mohammad Taylor, Clark Zabel, Gary

Associate Professor Senior Lecturer Professor Senior Lecturer Interim Director Professor Senior Lecturer Assistant Professor Associate Professor Associate Professor Associate Director Associate Professor Associate Professor Assistant Professor Professor Lecturer Lecturer Associate Professor Senior Lecturer Assistant Professor Professor Emeritus Associate Professor Senior Lecturer Associate Professor Associate Professor Senior Lecturer Associate Professor Professor Assistant Professor Lecturer Associate Professor Professor (ret.) Senior Lecturer

Department of Anthropology Department of Economics Department of English Department of American Studies Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences Department of English Department of Sociology Department of Conflict Resolution Department of Sociology Department of Womens Studies University Honors Program Department of Latin American and Iberian Studies Department of Political Science Department of Economics College of Public and Community Service Department of Anthropology Department of American Studies Department of Applied Linguistics Departments of English and American Studies Department of Economics College of Public and Community Service Department of English Department of Economics Department of English Department of American Studies Department of Sociology Department of Political Science Department of English Department of Economics Department of Womens Studies Department of Sociology College of Public and Community Service Department of Philosophy