A committee of Bucknell faculty has assembled themselves into the “Bucknell Gaza Advocates,” a group dedicated to recognizing, at Bucknell, the reality of the ongoing civilian casualties and heedless destruction in Gaza. Faculty involved with the Advocates forwarded the group’s motion to “The Bucknellian” with a request for publication. Their motion is based on the University’s own mission, available on the bucknell.edu website, which states their claim to foster an environment wherein students and faculty “serve the common good and promote justice in ways sensitive to the moral and ethical dimensions of life.”
Inspired by this directive, the faculty members of Bucknell Gaza Advocates are calling for Bucknell administration and the Board of Trustees to “make transparent the financial investments” of Bucknell’s endowment (a statement taken from an internal email, forwarded to “The Bucknellian” for publication). They also name the Committee on Planning and Budget, calling on them to “report to the faculty annually about the constitution of the endowment’s portfolio and the Trustees’ guiding investment principles” to enable the consistent availability of up-to-date information.
Largely, the sponsors of the motion want to determine if “Bucknell’s endowment investments make it complicit in Israel’s aggression in Gaza and the West Bank.” They go on to discuss the details of the current conflict, citing “Israel[’s] kill[ing of] more than 41,000 Palestinians (most of whom are civilians), destr[uction of] most of the region’s hospitals, schools and civilian infrastructure, […] mass displacement of nearly 2 million people, spark[ing of] the reemergence of polio and threaten[ing of] nearly the entire population with starvation” as the motivation for their concern. Backing up their motion is the recent UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory Report (a link to which was attached in the Advocates’ email containing their motion) that determined that “Israel is guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.” The report was released in June of 2024.
In the words of the directive, “Bucknellians have an obligation to know whether the privileges of their education are secured by an investment portfolio that directly or indirectly supports the genocide of the Palestinian people.” Professor of English and leader of the Advocates, Michael Drexler, adds that sponsors believe “students and alumni deserve to know how their donations and tuition dollars are being invested.” He continues, “We assert that Bucknell ought not to profit from oppression and unimaginable suffering. The first step is to know whether we indeed are complicit in crimes against humanity and breaches of international law.”
The Bucknell Gaza Advocates recognize that, beyond their concerns relating to Gaza, there are “other reasons” why the faculty “has an interest in Bucknell’s investment portfolio.” Cited concerns range from human rights to “environmental stewardship” and carbon footprint.
Sponsors of this motion among the faculty include, in addition to Drexler, professors Ken Field, Roger Rothman, Nina Banks, Stephan Lefebvre, Clare Sammells, Chase Gregory, Ron Smith, Kevin Daly, Jennifer Thomson and David Rojas.
