Move signifies major shift in the union’s politics and orientation, as it has devoted itself to the pro-Palestinian student movement since the start of Israel’s genocide

The Columbia University student workers’ union withdrew its demand that the university divest financially from Israel at a bargaining meeting this week.

The union constitutes over 3,000 undergraduate and graduate student workers. At a general body meeting on Monday, the union’s members voted on the decision.

SWC-UAW pulled a contract article entitled “Obligations Under International Law,” which pressed the university to divest from companies and state actors in violation of international law, as defined by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.

Columbia will open its global centre in Tel Aviv this summer.