(12.2.21) CUNY Law Student Government Passes BDS Resolution

Statement from CUNY Law Student Government:

This afternoon, CUNY Law Student Government held its final general body meeting of the Fall 2021 semester. All students received an invitation to today’s meeting by email earlier this week. The same practice was followed in advance of our meeting on October 5, 2021 and we will continue this practice going forward!

At today’s meeting, CUNY Law’s Jewish Law Students Association (CUNY JLSA) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters brought forward a Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Resolution to be voted on by the CUNY Law Student Government. CUNY JLSA and SJP also created a shorter fact sheet for our review. 23 Student Government Representatives were present. CUNY Law Student Government passed this resolution, with 18 in favor, 1 against, 4 abstaining, and with 16 representatives not present. When the vote closed today at 4:00pm, the BDS Resolution passed officially with 27 in favor, 1 against, and 11 abstaining.

To create shared understanding, we’re providing some additional details about the resolution and the voting procedure.

Background: CUNY Law Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and CUNY Law Jewish Law Student Association (JLSA) asked that CUNY Law Student Government discuss and vote on a resolution supporting the Palestinian-led call for BDS against Israel. Several student organizations also signed onto this statement. These organizations are listed in the resolution, which is linked above.

Voting Process:

• One of the SG Co-Presidents shared these documents one week in advance of the 12.2 SG Meeting. These materials were also added to the SG Meeting agenda and uploaded to the SG Public Drive. This was to give each member enough time to review the documents, to contact SJP and CUNY JLSA with any questions, and to encourage informal discussions amongst SG Reps.
• SG Representatives were told that if they could not make the meeting, they should vote (Yes, No, or Abstain) by email before 11:30am on December 2.
• SG Members, except for the presiding officer (One of the SG Co-Presidents), voted during today’s meeting. The resolution passed with 18 in favor, 1 opposed, and 4 abstaining.
• One of the SG Co-Presidents followed up with the SG Reps who did not attend today’s meeting and did not vote either in advance or immediately after the meeting. SG members were given additional time to submit their votes. SG members were informed that their vote would be recorded as abstaining if they did not respond by 4:00pm on 12/2. The resolution received 9 additional votes in favor from SG Reps who were absent from today’s meeting.

Relevant Guidelines from the CUNY Law SG Constitution

• Pursuant Section 3, Article V of the CUNY Law SG Constitution, “Each member shall have the power to cast one vote for each vote called during any and all sessions at which they are present, unless that member is either chairing the session or is the subject of a current impeachment proceeding.”
• Section 3, Article V of the CUNY Law SG Constitution also states, “The presiding officer of any session shall refrain from voting, except in the event of a tie among the other members present at that session.”
• See: Student Government Constitution (2021–22))

Total Votes:

• 27 in Favor
• 1 Against
• 4 Abstain
• 7 No Response (Counted as Abstain)

You can continue to reference Student Government’s Public Drive for our constitution, all meeting minutes, meeting agendas, and meeting materials.

Thank you all for your continued advocacy on these pressing social justice issues, with special thanks to the members and allies of CUNY JLSA and SJP. All members of the campus community are welcome to attend SG general meetings and are encouraged to bring the issues that are important to them to the floor!

Wishing everyone good luck with finals!

Student Government