Facing potential pressure from the federal government, UC President Michael Drake orders university entities and student governments to end certain boycotting practices
By RIVERS STOUT— campus@theaggie.org
On July 2, just weeks before his retirement in August, University of California (UC) President Michael Drake sent a letter to UC Chancellors ordering university entities, including student governments, not to engage in boycott actions based on a company’s association with any country.
Though the letter does not explicitly state Israel, it follows years of pro-Palestine protests calling for the divestment of UC funds from companies on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) list. Additionally, pressure from the federal government could have been influential with this decision — the United States Department of Education is investigating multiple UC campuses over alleged antisemitism.
Drake justified this decision by citing university business policy.
“University policies […] require that financial and business decisions be grounded in sound business practices including competitive bidding,” Drake said in the letter.
The letter continued by describing the implementation of these policies with university entities.
“This principle also applies to student governments,” the letter reads. “University policy provides that ‘any financial and business activity under the control of student governments is operated in accordance with sound business practices and is consistent with legal requirements and University policies and procedures’ (PACAOS 67.00). Actions by University entities to implement boycotts of companies based on their association with a particular country would not align with these sound business practices.”
It is currently unclear how this recommitment to enforcing policy will affect the Associated Students of UC Davis (ASUCD), UC Davis’ undergraduate student government, which passed legislation to boycott companies on the BDS list in winter 2024. The status of the UC Davis Law Student Association also remains unresolved after their constitutional amendment to incorporate BDS guidelines resulted in their suspension earlier this year.
As of publication, neither the UC Office of the President nor UC Davis leadership has released a statement or guidelines regarding how they will end boycotts already in place and ensure they don’t reoccur.
Instead of boycotts, Drake noted that university policy allows student governments to “take public positions on issues.”
When asked to comment on Drake’s letter, an ASUCD financial officer declined to comment.
Written by: Rivers Stout— campus@theaggie.org
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