Columbia student worker union drops Israel divestment demand during contract talks

Student Workers of Columbia, a union representing roughly 3,500 graduate and undergraduate student workers at Columbia University, has withdrawn its demand that Columbia University divest from companies and governments it considers to have violated international law, which includes Israel, the student newspaper Columbia Spectator reported on Wednesday.

The union, affiliated with the United Auto Workers, removed the divestment proposal from its contract demands as part of ongoing negotiations for a new labor agreement with the university after its previous agreement expired in 2025. Grant Miner, president of the student union, said the decision reflected the realities of bargaining.

“You start off a campaign with one thing, and then as you bargain, you have to face the realities of where you are,” Miner told the Spectator.

The union endorsed the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement in May 2024, following the establishment of an anti-Israel protest encampment on Columbia’s campus. The divestment proposal called for the university to cut ties with entities deemed by the United Nations or the International Criminal Court to have violated international law.

In March, union members authorized a strike as talks with the university stalled, with the contract campaign including demands related to an institutional boycott of Israel.

Union members voted on July 27 to remove the demand from their contract proposal. The move came as Student Workers of Columbia has withdrawn 10 proposals and reached tentative agreements with the university during negotiations.

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