The official conflict between Israel and Gaza has ceased in the Middle East, but Israel-Palestine is still a hot button issue on campuses nationwide.  An informal cross campus coalition sprung up as students from Columbia University in NYC consulted with Hampshire College and Rochester University student activists on strategies to force Columbia to divest from Israeli companies. Hampshire College and Rochester University have already persuaded their universities to divest from some of the companies that profit from the conflict. The Columbia students formed the Columbia Palestine Forum (CPF), a campaign intended to gather support for Palestinian rights to education and self-determination. The group issued a list of demands to administrators and a held teach-in and rally last week as part of their campaign to force the university to divest from Israeli businesses and support Palestinian students by offering scholarships and partnering with a Palestinian university. CPF also used language of “apartheid” in their materials, making a correlation between Israel and South Africa and hosting their events as part of “Israeli Apartheid Week,” an event recognized by pro-Palestinian activists in over 43 U.S. cities last week.

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