March 23, 2016

The Honorable Patrick J. Tiberi

The Honorable Steve Stivers
The Honorable Joyce Beatty
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Representatives:
We write in response to your letter dated March 21, 2016 advising members of the Ohio State
University Undergraduate Student Government (USG) to reject a divestment resolution currently pending
before the USG general assembly. As organizations representing a broad and diverse constituency of
Ohio State students, we are dismayed and profoundly disappointed that you would deem it appropriate to
meddle in deliberations regarding an internal University matter.
Although you profess an interest in promoting lasting peace in the Middle East, your letters inaccurate
and misleading characterizations of the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement
suggest quite the opposite. Such a peace can only be achieved when tomorrows leaders are free to debate
and discuss the merits of proposals aimed at achieving a just settlement of the Israel-Palestine issue.
Student initiatives urging divestment of university assets from corporations complicit in human rights
abuses are just one component of this vigorous and necessary debate.
Rather than promoting constructive dialogue among diverse parties, however, unwarranted and
misinformed calls to reject divestment by public officials in positions such as yours do a disservice to
students who are attempting to reach their own informed conclusions about divestment. Instead, they only
serve to stifle student speech by altering the terms of a conversation that should be left to OSU students.
Resolution 48-R-43, A Resolution to Support the Withdrawal of OSUs Investments in Corporations
Complicit in Human Rights Violations, calls for the divestment of University funds from British security
firm G4S, Caterpillar Inc., and global information technology company Hewlett-Packard. These
corporations have a well-documented track record of aiding and abetting human rights abuses in Israel
and the Occupied Palestinian Territories by, for example, supplying bulldozers used to illegally demolish
Palestinian homes; maintaining the technical capabilities of checkpoints that limit Palestinians freedom

of movement and access to medical care and other critical social services; and providing the infrastructure
and services to support the global prison industrial complex, respectively.
As should become abundantly clear to anyone who has read it, this resolution is not intended to isolate
Israel nor breed discrimination and hate, but rather to hold OSU accountable for the implications of its
business decisions and ensure that its financial investments are not implicated in human rights abuses
abroad. While a fundamental operating premise of the #OSUDivest campaign has always been the
necessity of recognizing and critiquing the structural violence of the Israeli occupation, our critique lies
also with the three aforementioned corporations and our universitys complicity in those corporations
human rights violations.
Furthermore, your rejection of divestment on the grounds that it is unproductive and would create
divisions on campus makes a mockery of the higher education experience. By suggesting that students are
incapable of grappling with complex and controversial issues in a thoughtful and civilized manner, you
rob them of their agency and discount the months of painstaking organizing and intersectional alliance
building that our movement was built upon.
Let us be clear: the #OSUDivest campaign has, from the very beginning, been a campaign of, for and by
OSU students. From holding town hall events to engaging students in conversations through letters to the
editor, #OSUDivest has endeavored at all stages to build a transparent and inclusive movement built on
the diversity of the unique identities and perspectives of its individual members. That three of Ohios 16
United States Representatives felt the need to personally intervene in a matter before a student
government body is an ironic testament to the power of the BDS movement and the movement for
Palestinian human rights.
Our campaign is based on the understanding that, as Martin Luther King Jr. famously stated, An
injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We view divestment as an important step in not only
advocating for justice for Palestinians but also creating a more just campus community. As long as our
university is complicit in human rights violations abroad, it cannot be truly inclusive and safe for all
students. For that reason, we work alongside other student organizations to challenge all forms of
oppression and bigotry that exist on campus.
In urging USG representatives to reject divestment, you have subverted the student democratic process
and abdicated your responsibility to serve as representatives to all your constituents. We urge you to
respect the sovereignty of the USG and to cease your unprecedented infringement of student speech and
association on our campus.
Sincerely,
#OSUDivest1
1

#OSUDivest is endorsed by the following OSU student organizations: African Youth League, Arab Student Union,
Bangladesh Student Association, Buckeye Bhangra, Buckeye Fusion, OSU Coalition for Black Lives, The
Committee for Justice in Palestine, FemUNITY, Indian American Association, International Socialist Organization Columbus Branch, Iranian Cultural Association, Model African Union, Muslim Students Association, Pakistani
American Students Association, Peace Corps Club, Project: Educate XX, Say Hi, SHADES, Somali Students

CC:

Members of the Ohio State University

Undergraduate Student Government

Association, Syrian Student Union, Still We Rise, United Students Against Sweatshops, and Urdu Club. The
following community organizations have also endorsed #OSUDivest: Jewish Voice for Peace - Central Ohio, and
Franklin County Green Party Central Committee.