With a vote count of 1014 to 699, the Princeton undergraduate student body voted down a referendum asking for the University to provide alternatives to Sabra hummus on campus shelves, Undergraduate Student Government President Mike Yaroshefsky ’12 said in an email this afternoon.
The referendum, introduced last week by the Princeton Committee on Palestine, had faced some stumbling blocks between the initial petition and the official referendum. They sought the referendum due to allegations that the Strauss Group, co-owners of Sabra Hummus, were providing aid to an Israeli defense force that has allegedly committed human rights violations.
This story is developing, so we’ll let you know more as soon as we can.
While comical in some respects, the Princeton hummus debate does provide some telling detail on the degeneration of the “movement” to attack Israel with boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS). Some analysis can be found at http://www.divestthis.com/2010/12/princeton-hearts-israel.html.
A college/university should be, and has been for many years, respected as a place of higher education. To me, this was a tool which propelled our young people into an elevated state of mind. We were supposed to think for ourselves, scrutinize, and develop our own sensibilities in every aspect of life.
It is an age where students realize they are young adults who will be responsible for our world in the very near future. This can be overwhelming, as well as downright frightening, if one really contemplates the state of affairs this world is in already; certainly, this country is no exception. Our students are the best thinkers, for lack of another description. We have a great deal to be proud of when it comes to our young people. I recall each generation feeling they had it easier in some ways, and far more difficult in others. This no doubt is true.
For the most part, American students have been given facts, taught objectively as possible, and encouraged to learn languages, in order to fit into this world. Our public and private schools, are for the most part multi cultural, which includes differing races, colors, and belief systems; never before did this mean an acceptable wide spread hatred, and fear of those different from us. This is not the law of our land, which discriminates and glorifies war mongers. Education, understanding, and becoming familiar with this planet, is what we want running rampant, and prolific, in our educational systems.
It should not be a shock, or even surprise, to those of us who are well read, and traditionally keep up with what is going on in the world, to learn there are some cultures who teach hate, bigotry, fear, and death, to all those who don’t share their views. This is spoon fed to them from home, schools, religion, and social activities. Children have text books with caricatures of people, actual countries not included on maps, and propaganda, instead of facts, all for the purpose of successfully nourishing hate and distrust of Americans, Jews, Israelis, and Christians, as infidels. Why do these people send their children to our Universities? Is it to spread their disease of the mind, to ferret out others to join in the total disintegration of our society, as we know it? I don’t hide behind these words. I am speaking of certain sects of Moslem society. Do I think they all think, feel, and teach this, in their religion? I do not. I do however see a huge preponderance of this activity, which is why we are seeing such anti-Semitism on so many campuses