UC Berkeley’s student government establishes divestment committee | ASUC

The ASUC Senate passed a resolution to establish a “Divestment Ad-Hoc Committee” by way of a near-unanimous vote during its Wednesday meeting.

The resolution comes after 74% of voting students approved a referendum calling for the UC Berkeley Foundation to divest from companies producing military weapons technology in the ASUC general election last spring.

After former ASUC President Abigail Verino and former Vice President Isha Chander were denied a meeting with the UC Berkeley Foundation board of trustees, the student government emphasized continued pressure on the university for divestment.

Primarily sponsored by ASUC President Margaret Solomon, the Divestment Ad-Hoc Committee will advocate for divestment from companies producing mass surveillance and military weapons technology.

According to Solomon, the committee will commence in early October after spending the rest of this month recruiting and preparing members.

“At the end of it all, I was glad to see the ASUC is aligned on our shared goals for this year to uplift the student body’s interests,” Solomon said in an email.

The resolution, after being tabled in the Governance and Internal Affairs Committee, was brought to the floor through a motion by Senator Maddie Chesebro.

Debate ensued after Senator Joseph Karlan expressed concern that the language of the resolution targeted certain communities, and moved to remove reference to the 2024 Free Palestine Encampment from the resolution.

“It feels like having this particular language is more important to everyone than how certain communities are experiencing that,” Karlan said. “I believe this language is unimportant to the goal of the resolution.”

After the motion failed, Karlan was the resolution’s sole no vote.

“I opposed the inclusion of language and references relating to a specific geopolitical issue of significance to members of my community,” Karlan said in an email. “I raised concerns that these references unnecessarily targeted members of my community and asked that they be removed, while leaving the substance and purpose of the resolution intact.”

Additionally, the senate passed a resolution in demand of institutional protections for international students.

Notably, candidate for Berkeley City Council District 7 Aidan Hill made an appearance during public comment, urging the ASUC to protect People’s Park and “stop UC Berkeley from militarizing this place.”

In a video posted to their Instagram account Monday, Hill called out Solomon to speak out on People’s Park.

“So what is the ASUC president going to say about this? Because right now they’re talking about divestment,” Hill said in the video. “But the UC is literally making people fall over and hit their heads on these rocks, and all we wanted was a garden.”