Students voted overwhelmingly to kill a referendum that called for a full academic and cultural boycott of Israel.

Professor Jacobson writes at our parent site, Legal Insurrection:

Bowdoin College students overwhelmingly reject Israel boycott

Bowdoin College Student Government held an unprecedented all-student referendum, sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine, for a full academic and cultural boycott of Israel (not just “divestment” from certain companies).

Bowdoin is one of the most elite Liberal Arts colleges, ranked 5th by U.S. News & World Report.

The referendum was held after SJP managed to get 20% of the student body to sign a Petition calling for a boycott. Our prior posts have the full background:

ALERT: Bowdoin College Students May Vote on Israel Academic Boycott
Bowdoin College students start voting on total Israel boycott

In order to pass, one-third of the 1915 students needed to participate in the vote, and two-thirds of those voting needed to vote in favor.

The results have just been officially released in an email from the student government president:

Dear Students,

The voting for the student referendum has now closed. The number of voters reached the necessary quorum of 1/3 of the student body but only 14% voted in favor of the referendum, therefore it does not pass. The results are as follows:

In favor: 228 votes, 14%

Opposed: 1,144 votes, 71%

Abstaining: 247 votes, 15%

Total Votes: 1,619 votes, 85% of the student body

Thank you to everyone who voted.

This is a particularly crushing blow to the boycott movement, with 150 fewer students voting in favor than signed the Petition. This reflects that many students were pressured into signing the Petition and also were misled as to the nature of the boycott.