Newark, Camden campuses pass divestment vote, New Brunswick anticipates results
The Rutgers University Student Assembly is expected to release the results of its divestment-related referendum vote on Tuesday, according to a post from the Rutgers Endowment Justice Collective (EJC) last week.
The Assembly's response to The Daily Targum's inquiry about the referendum's deadline previously read that the Assembly has no jurisdiction over when the results are released.
"The assembly has no control over when election results become public — we also don't have access to the results, our advisors do," the statement read. "As of now, the judicial council is working through appeals and will release preliminary results as soon as possible."
During the Fall 2023 elections, the Assembly's published timeline indicated that preliminary results were announced within 24 hours of the closure of the voting period. Election results were subsequently certified within 10 days.
The Fall 2023 website dedicates one paragraph to the appeals process, which defines an appeal and stresses the gravity of filing one.
This descriptor of the appeals process in the Assembly resource for the Spring 2024 election process is significantly shorter. It does not describe what an appeal is, how to file it or the importance of doing so.
Instead, the resource lists the deadlines for appeals and establishes approximately three weeks for appeals to be vetted. Appeals were due on April 1 and close on this upcoming Friday.
Similar referendum votes were open to student bodies at Rutgers—Newark and Rutgers—Camden, as previously reported by the Targum. While both of their voting periods opened later than that at Rutgers—New Brunswick, results have already been released.
Both the Newark and Camden student bodies voted to have their student governing associations divest the University's endowment fund from Israeli companies. Rutgers—Newark also voted to advocate for the University to sever ties with Tel Aviv University.
"The (referendums) show (administration) that students no longer wish to be complicit in genocide," EJC said in their post detailing each campus' election timelines. "All referenda results will be announced as soon as possible! No matter the result!"
