On April 1, Pitzer College’s Faculty Executive Committee (FEC) voted to remove 11 study-abroad programs from its pre-approved list, including one at Israel’s University of Haifa. In addition, eight programs were placed under review.
This information was released by Pitzer’s Dean of Faculty Allen Omoto in both a message posted on the college’s website and in an email to students sent on April 2, 2024.
This motion followed the Pitzer Study Abroad and International Programs (SAIP) Committee’s review of two proposals to consider ending 19 programs. In an email to the Pitzer Curriculum Committee and Academic Planning Committee (APC), SAIP explained that these proposals suggested that the Haifa program did not meet criteria aligning with Pitzer’s values.
“Additional criteria regarding alignment with Pitzer values and adequate local resources are cited in the Haifa-specific proposal,” the email stated. “SAIP Committee notes that this latter proposal comes with considerable community support.”
Despite this note, Omoto clarified in his April 2 statement that the choices behind the program closings were due solely to their failure to meet the college’s guidelines and not in response to student calls for an academic boycott.
“[The programs] do not meet our criteria, due, specifically, to lack of enrollments for at least five years, exchange imbalance, or curricular overlap,” the email read. “I want to clarify that these programs are not closed, nor do any of these actions reflect an academic boycott.”
Anna Babboni SC ’24, a member of Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), suggested that Omoto’s clarification exemplified Pitzer’s hesitancy to associate itself with the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
“I think that the college would never, ever want to call a BDS win what it is,” Babboni said. “They don’t want to take a public stance on BDS, despite the fact that Pitzer claims to have radical roots and is an institution that was born out of the civil rights movement with a heavy emphasis on social justice.”
Despite this, the vote has been noted as an academic boycott win across social media, with organizations such as Middle East Eye posting about the decision.
Babboni argued that the removal of the Haifa program from the pre-approved list was a result of long-standing student and faculty organizing and emphasized the importance of the college’s administration acknowledging this.
“Our role as organizers is to show that these types of wins come from sustained campaigns,” she said. “This is over six years of organizing work and pressure on the administration, escalating pressure from various points. Because of that, we pressured them into closing this program, both due to what they call this lack of enrollment and our proposal.”
Following Pitzer’s April 2 announcement, SJP released a statement on Instagram with a similar sentiment to Babboni’s.
“What admin refuse to admit is that SJP & [Claremont Jewish Voice for Peace], faculty, and alumni successfully closed the program at the University of Haifa due to its misalignment with Pitzer core values,” the post read.
The post specifically points to an April 2 email titled “Pitzer Faculty Statement Regarding Gaza” sent by Nigel Boyle, FEC and Faculty Meeting chair to the Pitzer community. In the email, Boyle shared a statement that had been approved at a March 28 faculty meeting.
“We stand firmly against any form of discrimination targeting Palestinian students and faculty, and the deliberate exclusion of Palestinian perspectives from the curriculum within Israeli universities,” the email read. “As a result, we will actively discourage any partnerships with institutions that perpetuate such practices.”
Students and faculty members have been calling for the closure of the Haifa program since 2018, when both Pitzer’s faculty and College Council voted to suspend the college’s ties with the University of Haifa abroad program, seemingly signifying a victory for the BDS movement; however, soon after the bill was vetoed by then-Pitzer President Melvin Oliver.
In the years since, community members have continued trying to close the program. On April 11, the Pitzer College Council is scheduled to vote on Resolution 60-R-5, which urges the college to officially partake in an academic boycott and to completely close the Haifa program. This follows a 34:1 vote by the Pitzer Student Senate on Feb. 11 calling for the removal of the program.
Despite Haifa being removed from the pre-approved list, Babboni emphasized the importance of proceeding with movements in support of Palestine, including the upcoming vote.
“We think a principled stance in solidarity with Palestine is also a public stance and that part of our role as organizers is to set a path for other schools to be able to do the same and invite all other universities to also end their complicity and apartheid, genocide and ethnic cleansing,” Babboni said. “BDS is the floor, not the ceiling. There are so many ways that we have to continue to stand in solidarity with Palestine.”
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