UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
JB [R] 56-008
In Support of Student Voices
56 t h Term
Spring 2016
- A JOINT RESOLUTION Be it resolved by the University of South Florida (USF) Student Government
assembled,
Whereas, members of USF strive to uphold the values of justice, equality, and humanity
fought for by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Whereas, USF Foundation invests some of its $418 million endowment in corporations
complicit in human rights violations.
Whereas, USF students have strongly spoken out in favor of divestment from these
corporations.
Whereas, USF students have voted on a referendum in support of divestment with 2111
students voting YES and 609 students voting NO.
Whereas, 10,000 USF students have signed a petition calling for divestment.
Whereas, divestment is a time-honored civil rights strategy that the United States
Supreme Court has upheld as protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.
Let it be resolved, a copy of this resolution shall be sent to the USF Faculty Senate and
the USF Staff Senate, which shall be asked to consider and support this resolution.
Let it be finally resolved, that Student Government asks the Board of Trustees of the USF
Foundation to honor the voices of the student body, in accordance with their fiduciary
duty at such time and such manner as they may determine, by fulfilling the requests
made by the petition, appended.
Attest:
Kristen Truong
Senate President
Date
Andy Rodriguez
Student Body President
Danish Hasan
Senate President Pro Tempore
Date
Michael Malanga
Student Body Vice President
Date
Date-
This is a true and correct copy of Joint Resolution 56-008, adopted by Student Government on Tuesday, January 19, 2016
with a vote count of 32- 12-5.
Page 1 of 3
As members of a university that reveres the Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we strive to
uphold the same values of justice, equality, and humanity that Dr. King fought for during his lifetime. To
honor these values, we should strive to stop profiting from corporations with human rights violations.
Our university was on the wrong side of history when it failed to divest from corporations affiliated with
South African apartheid. This time we hope to be on the right side of history. We ask that USF, out of
respect for international law, and in consistency with US and local law, stop investing in corporations
that are continuously and knowingly complicit in severe human rights violations. Despite our inactivity in
past injustices, there is a current opportunity in which we expect our university to act accordingly with
an honorable conscious.
For decades, the Palestinian people have been suffering from a system of occupation and oppression
that strips them of their basic human rights. The Israeli occupation of Palestine is affecting every aspect
of the Palestinian people’s lives: demolishing their homes, depriving them of land and water, and
restricting their livelihoods to small areas of land behind a massive and illegal separation wall. These are
only a few of the afflictions faced by Palestinians on a day-to-day basis. There are multinational
corporations who support and profit from this illegal and brutal occupation.
Our university endowment is invested in the following corporations which are directly complicit in
human rights violations against the Palestinian people:

Caterpillar – Caterpillar supplies the Israeli army with bulldozers for militarization. These
bulldozers demolish Palestinian homes, construct the separation wall and create settlements on
Palestinian lands, and cause civilian casualties.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) – HP supplies the Israeli military occupation with systems for military
checkpoints that restrict Palestinian civilian movement inside the occupied territory. It further
develops the new Israeli biometric ID card system, which is ethnically labeled to divide the
population, supporting a system of state segregation and discrimination.

G4S PLC – G4S operates private prisons around the world and manages immigrant deportations
in the US. It provides security systems for Israeli prisons in which Palestinian political prisoners
and child prisoners are held. It provides technologies to Israeli military checkpoints and security
services in illegal Israeli settlements.

Boeing Company – Boeing supplies Israel with Apache Helicopters and F-16 fighter jets as well
as missile systems used repeatedly in war crimes against Palestinian civilians.

Lockheed Martin – Lockheed Martin supplies the Israeli military with Hellfire Missiles, Apache
parts, and F-16 fighter jets along with training and maintenance. These weapons are used in war
crimes against Palestinian civilians.

Northrop Grumman Corporation – Northrop Grumman supplies Israel with weapons used
against Palestinian civilians, including Hellfire missiles, F-16 targeting and surveillance systems,
and Longbow missile system. In 2008 and 2012, its technologies were used against Palestinian
civilians in the bombing of Gaza.
This is a true and correct copy of Joint Resolution 56-008, adopted by Student Government on Tuesday, January 19, 2016
with a vote count of 32- 12-5.
Page 2 of 3
We ask the Board of Trustees of the USF Foundation:

To create a committee consisting of representatives from staff, faculty and students that will
publish quarterly reports of its investments and investment policy to create transparency with
the goal of educating the university community on how its endowment is invested.

To create a policy that ensures our endowment is invested in a socially just manner, with regard
to human rights and environmental welfare.

To declare divestment from corporations directly complicit in human rights violations against
the Palestinian people.
This is a true and correct copy of Joint Resolution 56-008, adopted by Student Government on Tuesday, January 19, 2016
with a vote count of 32- 12-5.
Page 3 of 3