BDS Fails in Campus-Wide Referendum!

The resolution endorsing BDS, which had been adopted by the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council on March 6, was rejected in a campus-wide referendum last week. Voting began on April 26th and ended at noon on the 28th. Additionally, a proposed amendment to the VSA by-laws that would have forbidden reimbursement to student groups for purchases of products from companies deemed “complicit” with Israel, was defeated in a separate referendum vote. (The amendment had been voted on by the VSA along with the BDS resolution but had failed to achieve the 2/3 majority needed for adoption.)

After the VSA vote, the pro-BDS resolution and the amendment were submitted to the student body. Fewer than half the students actually voted. The tally is as follows:

	Yes	No
Resolution Approving BDS	503	573
Amendment	475	601

Thus, in net numbers, only about 25% of the entire student body of over 2,000 supported either the BDS referendum or the amendment, despite what we were told was a virtually non-stop campaign by the student organizations promoting BDS (Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace).