On April 8th, the Macalester faculty voted on Mac for Palestine’s study away divestment proposal. The proposal did not pass — falling short by just seven votes, with 75 in favor and 82 opposed.
We are, of course, profoundly disappointed. But more than anything, we are proud — proud of the 75 faculty members who voted with courage, conviction and with care. In a moment where repression and fear are designed to silence dissent, you chose to speak. You chose to stand with your students. You chose to align your vote with the principles of justice, equity and liberation this institution claims to uphold.
Mac for Palestine sees you. And we cannot begin to express how deeply grateful we are to fight alongside you.
To our faculty allies: thank you for showing us what it means to teach; not just in the classroom, but by example. Thank you for taking the risk of speaking out publicly, of organizing with your colleagues, of bringing your full moral selves into a room that so often rewards silence. Your solidarity gives us strength in this moment of profound sadness and anger.
We are also angry. Angry at the faculty who continue to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism, who invoke fear to shut down debate and who attempt to pit marginalized communities against one another in order to stall a growing movement for justice. These tactics are not only dishonest; they are dangerous. They do not protect Jewish students; they weaponize Jewish identity to justify the status quo of violence and occupation.
And we are angry, too, at those who claim to recognize the violence for what it is, those who admit, sometimes even publicly, that what is happening to Palestinians is genocide, and yet still voted no. To acknowledge a genocide and then turn your back on the people calling for action against it is not neutrality. You cannot name the horror and then wash your hands of the responsibility to act.
This vote may have failed, but this movement has not. The tide is shifting on campus, and we feel it. Two years ago, a vote like this would have been unthinkable. Today, it came within inches of passing. That is not a loss; that is momentum. That is a community refusing to back down.
Today, 75 faculty members stood up today and said: we will not be complicit. That matters.
This vote wasn’t the end. It was a marker of how far this movement has come, and how much stronger it’s becoming. We are under no illusions about how power resists change. We are not naive about how power works. But we also know that once a truth is spoken, it cannot be undone.
We are still here. We are still fighting. And we are not alone.
