The Brown University Community Council is set to vote on two motions concerning student calls for divestment at a special meeting Thursday afternoon.
If the first motion passes, BUCC would recommend to President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 that the University drop charges against 41 students arrested in a Dec. 11 sit-in. If the second passes, BUCC would recommend that the Brown Divest Coalition be allowed to present their case for divestment from “companies which profit from human rights abuses in Palestine” to the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body.
The vote will take place as students enter the second day of a Main Green encampment in support of divestment, mirroring similar protests on campuses across the country.
The BUCC is a 38-member University advisory body made up of current undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, faculty, staff, trustees and administrators. The council is charged with the ability to “consider and advance questions of University community policy, the governing of the University … and to make recommendations regarding any such matters to the appropriate decision making bodies,” according to its website.
The vote was pushed from last Monday after Provost Francis J. Doyle brought a motion to postpone it due to Paxson’s absence. At the time, Paxson was in virtual attendance at the council meeting. Since then, Thursday’s vote has been moved to Zoom.
The meeting was moved virtually “to maximize opportunities for attendance and ensure that voting can be done via online polls,” according to an internal email to BUCC members reviewed by The Herald.
Unlike traditional BUCC meetings, which offer a half-hour public comment period at the end, the special meeting will be limited to one hour.
The special meeting will take place from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. Thursday afternoon and is open to all Brown community members.
Anisha Kumar is a section editor covering University Hall. She is a sophomore from Menlo Park, California concentrating in English and Political Science who loves speed-crosswording and rewatching sitcoms.
