This morning, the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) announced the results of the responsible partnerships and investments referendum. The voting period ran from Oct. 1 – 6, with undergraduate students being able to vote either ‘yes,’ ‘no’ or ‘abstain’ to each of the two questions posed. For both questions, ‘yes’ passed in a landslide victory.

Nicholas Joseph, a student quoted by the ‘yes’ committee in a release, said, “We will continue to mobilize around this win until the university has no choice but to divest. WUSA must listen to their student members and act! We will not stop until WUSA pushes for an end to ties with Technion and the university admin capitulates to the student body’s demands. Admin must decide who they will prioritize: their students or their shareholders. The call of the student encampment still rings clear: UW must boycott and divest!”

A representative from the ‘no’ committee said, “These are not the results we had hoped for. We still firmly believe that the collaboration between the two universities…[on] projects such as infant lung therapy… water purification, and targeted medicine advance humanity. The disproportionate focus on a small-scale collaboration with… Israel only… indicate a detachment of the student association from the real needs of students.”

A breakdown of the results for each question is as follows:

Question 1: Should UW sever its partnership with Technion-Israel Institute of Technology due to its role in the research and development of technology used by the Israel Defense Forces?

‘Yes’: 5,942 (83.9 per cent)

‘No’: 1,019 (14.4 per cent)

Abstain: 122 (1.7 per cent)

Overall turnout for question one was 19.8 per cent of the eligible population.   

Question 2: Should UW review its partnerships and investment portfolios to ensure alignment with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles and Amnesty International, to prioritize institutions that demonstrate a commitment to human rights, peace, and international law in a manner that is timely and transparent to the undergraduate student?

‘Yes’: 5,957 (88.6 per cent)

‘No’: 632 (9.4 per cent)

Abstain: 131 (1.9 per cent)

Overall turnout for question two was 18.7 per cent of the eligible population.

In a statement to Imprint, a UW spokesperson said, “Thank you to WUSA for organizing this referendum, and our students for their participation. These results will be shared with members of the Task Force on Social Responsibility in Investing and Task Force on Principles for Institutional Partnership, both of which are reviewing existing practices and policies related to the referendum questions.

“The Task Forces, which include Waterloo student representatives, have now begun their work and updates about the progress of that work, including how the community can contribute further, will be shared in the coming weeks.”

The results of the referendum are a contrast to those of the 2016 referendum, in which students voted on whether UW should sever ties with five Israeli institutions, including Technion. In that referendum, 2,329 students voted ‘no’ while 1,803 voted ‘yes’.

The results of this year’s referendum, however, do not necessarily mean that the university will take any action — it simply means that WUSA may adopt the winning result as their official stance. The results will be submitted at a board meeting later this month for ratification and to determine next steps. 

The referendum was created after WUSA received a member-submitted petition which requested a referendum in May. After that, the Elections and Referenda Committee formally recommended questions to WUSA’s board, which were approved to put the referendum in motion. Prior to the referendum, there were nomination and campaigning periods from July to October.

Imprint has reached out to the ‘yes’ committee and Technion for comment.