Israel Divestment Draws Campus Battle Lines

Debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has created a stir on U.S. campuses in recent weeks, with the latest flare-up at the University of Michigan.

Much of the controversy spawns from a nascent campaign by supporters of the Palestinian cause demanding that universities divest of stock in companies that do business in Israel.

Two students in Ann Arbor, Mich., sued the university this week in an attempt to halt a conference, sponsored by a pro-Palestinian student group, aimed at advancing a national divestment strategy. More than 450 students from at least 72 campuses registered.

Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman has said that she does not support divestment, but that organizers have a right to hold the conference. On Wednesday, general counsel Marvin Krislov said the lawsuit is baseless, adding, "An attempt to impose a gag order violates the most fundamental precepts of the First Amendment."

The divestment campaign, patterned after similar efforts targeting South Africa in the late 1970s, began nearly two years ago, but it has intensified since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as students grow more aware of international issues, says Francis Boyle, an international law professor at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. It was Boyle who first suggested the divestment campaign.

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