Hindu-American Stands Up to BDS

Kudos to Milan Chatterjee, UCLA Law School, Class of 2016, for receiving the AJC Campus Courage Award at the AJC Global Forum 2016. Chatterjee, president of the UCLA Graduate Student Association (GSA), was honored for standing up to Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which sought his removal from office after he told a campus group that funding for a diversity event was contingent on a “zero engagement/endorsement policy toward Divest from Israel” or any related BDS movement organization. The GSA later found Chatterjee guilty of violating the student body’s constitution, but voted not to take action against him.

“SJP, with the support of Palestine Legal and ACLU of Southern California, launched a vicious public relations and legal campaign against me, solely because my administration chose to remain neutral on the BDS issue,” Chatterjee said. “Consequently, I gained first-hand exposure to how the BDS movement has created a hostile and unsafe campus climate at American universities. I especially empathize with my Jewish fellow students, who are being systematically harassed and bullied by this movement.”

Watch Chatterjee's acceptance speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fopDGiKvFc