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Campaign to pressure your university to divest from companies targeted by BDS and/or to end ties with complicit Israeli academic institutions. Learn more about divestment and the academic boycott.  

Form a large, intersectional coalition to pass a resolution at your student union or student government or other university bodies in support of your campaign and BDS, among other progressive demands. Get in touch for advice and for a model resolution.

Student unions and governments across Europe, North America and in Oceania have voted to formally endorse and support BDS and/or the academic boycott. Many student unions now do not buy or sell products or procure services from complicit companies targeted by the BDS movement.

Largely inspired by and building on the Black-led campus movement that had led to widespread college divestment from apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, the BDS divestment drives in solidarity with Palestinian rights has had its own inspiring success and impact, especially during Israel’s genocide in Gaza. In Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland and elsewhere, student movements are pressuring universities to divest any shares they hold in companies that are complicit in Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights and international law. A growing number of universities have divested or taken effective measures towards divesting from apartheid Israel or companies that are implicated in its crimes.

During the genocide, support for the academic boycott of Israel and its deeply complicit universities has grown immensely. Before the genocide, many student unions, academic associations and federations had voted to endorse and campaign in support for an academic boycott. Only a handful of universities had actually cut ties with Israeli institutions, with the University of Johannesburg in South Africa setting that precedent. 

During the Gaza genocide, however, and largely due to effective pressure campaigns by students and staff, tens of universities worldwide have cut ties with Israel or taken effective measures towards that goal. Read more about the academic boycott here.

Many major BDS targets such as Cisco, HP, Google and Amazon provide services to universities worldwide. Student-led campaigns from Australia to Latin America have led universities to end ties with entities complicit in Israel’s regime of military occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid. In the UK, successful student campaigns have persuaded universities in London, Southampton and Sheffield to end contracts with past BDS target G4S, contributing to forcing the company to end its complicity in Israel’s apartheid regime.

Student federations and organizations from Europe to Latin America have declared themselves Apartheid Free Zones (AFZs). Learn more about the AFZ campaign.

Organizing a petition is a great way to speak to large numbers of people and to show the university management that the community supports your BDS campaign demands. As far back as 2014, for instance, students at the University of South Florida got more than 10,000 people to sign their petition calling for divestment!

An open letter in support of your campaign from students, academics and university staff can be a great outreach tool and a great way to build pressure on your university. It’s good to think beyond academic staff too: at SOAS in London, for example, students reached out to cleaners and their union, for example. 

It is also important to support staff-led BDS initiatives. An inspiring example was set at the University of Amsterdam in December 2024, when the staff trade union led a 4-day strike demanding, among other things, that the university suspend academic ties with all complicit Israeli universities and end financial ties with complicit companies.

Work with others on your campus to research your university’s investments and institutional relationships with Israeli universities. An important resource for divestment is the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Find more resources on the academic boycott campaign page.