May 4, 2011 by Steve Kuperberg

When reports surfaced last month at the University of Vermont that the university trustees’ Socially Responsible Investing Working Group would hold a hearing on a proposal to divest university funds from Israel, the Vermont pro-Israel community faced a serious challenge.

The Working Group announced the hearing during Spring break. The campus was nearly empty. Few had seen the proposal or had a notion of its contents, much less formulated a response. The Working Group scheduled the hearing for just days after students and faculty would return, leaving almost no time to prepare. The Hillel director, who happened to be in town due to a canceled vacation, was otherwise alone. And a late winter snowstorm had just dumped two feet of snow on the ground.

None of that was a match for the power of the campus Israel network.

When working to create a positive climate regarding Israel on campus, no one person, organization, or community has all of the knowledge, resources, or skills required. It takes a network that includes students, faculty, administrators, and campus professionals who are ready to lead the effort on their respective campuses, as well as national organizations and community members who are prepared to support those campus efforts. At the Israel on Campus Coalition, we have found that the campus network works best when it operates in an environment of mutual trust organized around the common goal of meeting the campus community’s needs.

In the case of Vermont, it took the dedicated work of many to meet the challenge. ICC quickly brought together national organizations. With just days to prepare and few people on campus over Spring break, the Vermont community said it needed briefing materials for those who would speak in support of Israel at the hearing.

Many assisted: Scholars for Peace in the Middle East supported campus faculty members; the American Israel Cooperative Enterprise supplied background material on the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement and on misleading claims in the divestment proposal; the Israel Action Network of JCPA-JFNA supplied talking points and material that speakers could use for their background; StandWithUs counseled students; an AIPAC-trained student activist provided background on the Working Group from her work in countering a similar proposal the prior year; and ICC’s own staff pulled together a point-by-point refutation of the divestment proposal, a compilation of talking points, and a draft counter-proposal on investing in Israel.

With these resources, the dedicated Vermont Hillel director sprang into action when no one else was on campus. Upon their return, students and faculty organized and prepared to attend the hearing.

As a result of these efforts, nearly twice as many speakers at the hearing, both students and faculty alike, spoke powerfully against the divestment proposal and in favor of a strong relationship between the university and Israel. The campus community felt empowered and inspired by their advocacy for Israel. Faced with such concerted and powerful advocacy, the authors of a draft resolution in the student government in support of the Working Group proposal withdrew it without debate. A few weeks later, the Working Group tabled the proposal, essentially killing it for the year.

The network of campus Israel supporters worked together effectively for Vermont because we started by asking the needs of the Vermont campus community without assuming that we knew the answer. By filling roles across the spectrum, working toward common objectives and in an atmosphere of mutual trust, the network met those needs and helped enable the campus community to respond brilliantly. It’s a model that the campus Israel network can and is replicating elsewhere.

The national pro-Israel community can aid such efforts by supporting organizations working in a collaborative networked model that recognizes and respects the distinct value that each player in the network can bring to the larger effort. The challenge to secure a lasting positive Israel climate at the University of Vermont, and on campuses across the country, is continual and significant; but together, the campus Israel network can rise to meet that challenge.