Regarding the RUSA Referenda

April 1, 2024

Dear Students,
 
Last week RUSA, the Rutgers University Student Assembly, in its role as the official governing body for undergraduate students, asked students to consider two referenda. The first asked students in New Brunswick if they wanted RUSA to advocate for divestment of Rutgers’ funds from companies doing business with Israel. The second asked if RUSA should advocate for termination of Rutgers’ partnership with Tel Aviv University (TAU) that provides for cultural, academic, and artistic exchanges with TAU.
 
I received emails demanding that I stop this vote from happening. I did not and would not do so because I respect RUSA’s ability to self-govern and because I trust Rutgers students to engage in responsible civic practices.
 
I have also been asked to articulate my position on the referenda. I feel strongly about both questions but refrained from doing so because I knew that to speak out while students were voting would have been characterized by one side or the other as an attempt to tip the scales in support of my own view.
 
On the question of divestment, I think the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is wrong. I believe in engagement, not isolation. I believe that enlightenment comes from involvement and that lasting progress and peace are the outcomes of diplomacy and discussion. Please also know that the University’s Joint Committee on Investments has authority over investment policy. A request for divestment from companies doing business in Israel was presented to that committee in 2020 and it did not move forward. 
 
Our partnership with TAU adds to our fundamental academic and research mission. This relationship was first established in 2016 and will continue at the HELIX, our new research facility in downtown New Brunswick. I traveled to Tel Aviv in 2021 with a delegation from New Jersey to renew the memorandum establishing the partnership and to show my commitment to global academic exchanges and to international engagement. Rutgers has relationships like this with universities all over the world and they help move our mission forward.
 
On the bigger question of the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East, I strongly support the recent calls made by both Governor Murphy and the Biden Administration for an immediate temporary cease-fire in Gaza, the release of hostages who were taken in the terrorist attacks of October 7th and remain held by Hamas or other militant groups, and the free flow of humanitarian aid and support to the millions of innocent civilians who are on the verge of starvation and famine. 
 
When we began this semester, I asked you to think about how we, as members of the Rutgers community, can preserve our freedoms, how we can embrace them with the awesome responsibility they require—to be respectful and openminded, to be intellectually honest and curious, and to be civil, decent, and understanding of one another. I hope that, as we close out this semester, you continue to carry those reflections with you and that, when conflict arises—as it inevitably will—you seek first to understand.
 
Sincerely,
 
Jonathan Holloway
President and University Professor