Amid Fight with Administration, HLS Activists Introduce Divestment Referendum

Harvard Law School students have proposed a referendum urging the University to divest from companies involved in Israel’s war in Gaza and accusing Israel of committing a genocide.

The referendum started as a petition, accruing more than 300 signatures by Tuesday. Petitions with more than 300 signatures are required to be brought before the full Law School student body for a vote by the student government’s constitution.

It is unclear when the referendum, which urges divestment from all companies “complicit in violations of international humanitarian law,” will actually be held or if planning has begun.

“We will be talking to the council about next steps,” John M. Fossum and Déborah V. Aléxis, the student government co-presidents, wrote in a statement. “The referendum dates are to be determined.”

The impending referendum adds yet another wrinkle to a monthslong power struggle between the Law School’s administration and its student government.

In the fall, the student government attempted to introduce a referendum that condemned HLS’s decision to temporarily suspend library privileges of students who participated in study-in protests. More than 100 suspensions were doled out throughout the semester.

However, that referendum didn’t proceed as planned. It was first delayed to December and then to January and, as of now, is indefinitely postponed.

When the referendum was first announced, the Dean of Students Office deactivated the student government’s email address, preventing them from sending it out. More than 280 HLS students subsequently signed a petition claiming the DSO’s response was an “unprecedented and unacceptable display of repression.”

Interim HLS Dean John Goldberg met with the student government in early January, where he conveyed that the administration would not proceed with the library referendum as originally drafted, according to a student government representative. The student said Goldberg declined to comment on what language his administration disapproved of.

HLS spokesperson Jeff Neal declined to comment on the new referendum or criticisms of HLS administrators’ response.

“The HLS Administration's refusal to help Student Government administer the referendum on the library suspensions has been disappointing but unsurprising given its recent track record of student suppression,” Fossum and Aléxis wrote.

In response to the repeated delays, the student government passed a resolution that affirmed “the constitutional authority of the Student Government to administer elections and referenda independently of the HLS Administration” on Jan. 8.

“Student Government has the authority to run its own elections and we intend to explore that option moving forward,” Fossum and Aléxis added.

The student government has not held any elections or referendums since that resolution took effect on Jan. 16.

Though the student government has, in the past, often worked with HLS administrators to host student referenda, their constitution does not require administration cooperation.

“We have a duty to advocate for our student peers and defend the integrity of student democracy,” Fossum and Aléxis wrote.

—Staff writer Caroline G. Hennigan can be reached at caroline.hennigan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cghennigan.

—Staff writer Bradford D. Kimball can be reached at bradford.kimball@thecrimson.com.