Overview

• The Student Government Association approved the measure 29-1, urging the university and its foundation to adopt BDS policies targeting companies and academic ties linked to Israel.
• Jewish campus leaders condemned holding the vote on Yom Kippur as exclusionary, with UMD Hillel’s Rabbi Ari Israel criticizing the timing.
• Eighteen Jewish student organizations announced they will boycott future SGA meetings on the issue in protest of the scheduling.
• The Diamondback reported the vote had been slated for Rosh Hashanah before being moved to Yom Kippur, as some students publicly defended the timing during debate.
• The passage follows failed BDS efforts in 2017, 2019 and 2024 and comes after an April referendum in which students backed divestment at a campus with nearly 6,000 Jewish undergraduates.