Akshay Srinivasan
Overview
Akshay Srinivasansupported a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) resolution at Swarthmore College (Swarthmore) while reportedly serving as the Chair of Student Organizations of the Swarthmore Student Government Organization (SGO) in 2019.In 2019, Srinivasan was listed as the vice president of Swarthmore SGO. As of January 2020, Srinivasan’s LinkedIn page said he was “Vice President” since May 2019, “Chair of Student Organizations” from April 2018 - May 2019 and a “Senator” from September 2017 - 2018.
Srinivasan’s LinkedIn page said he was seeking a bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at Swarthmore, slated to graduate in 2021.
Srinivasan’s LinkedIn page also said he was an Associate Analyst Intern at T. Rowe Price, in Baltimore, Maryland, since June 2019, as well as a Finance Director and Associate Consultant at 180 Degrees Consulting in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, since October 2017. His LinkedIn also said that he was on the “Counseling Staff” at The American Legion Boys State of Missouri, Inc., since June 2016.
Swarthmore Divestment Campaign
On March 7, 2019 Srinivasan was quoted in a Swarthmore student newspaper article voicing support for Swarthmore SJP’s 2018-2019 BDS campaign.In the article, Srinivasan acknowledged concerns voiced by the pro-Israel group Swarthmore Students for Israel that the divestment resolution was “anti-Semitic.” However, he defended the resolution, saying that it is “just calling for divestment from companies that hurt people.”
The resolution that Srinivasan supported was part of Swarthmore SJP’s BDS campaign that began in October of 2018.
On October 9, 2018, Swarthmore SJP held a rally on campus to launch a BDS resolution. The resolution called on Swarthmore to divest from a number of companies doing business with Israel.
Swarthmore SJP then published an October 24, 2018 statement in another student newspaper that accused seven companies of being engaged in the “murder” of Palestinian civilians” and “the indiscriminate targeting of civilians.”
On December 3, 2018, Swarthmore SJP released its BDS campaign video on Facebook, titled: “Why Divest from Apartheid?”
On December 12, 2018, Swarthmore SJP posted a live video on Facebook from a rally where activists reportedly delivered a petition, in support of their divestment resolution, to President Smith, urging Swarthmore to “divest from Israeli apartheid.”
In the video, William Marchese, a Swarthmore SJP activist, suggested [00:12:07] that Swarthmore was under “intense pressure from right-wing alumni who want to stand with apartheid.”
Following this, in February 2019, Swarthmore SJP proposed their BDS resolution to Swarthmore’s Student Government Organization (SGO). On February 10, 2019, the BDS resolution failed to pass.
The day after the resolution failed, on February 11, 2019, Swarthmore SJP activist Sidney Covitz co-launched a chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) at Swarthmore, with the reported intention of supporting “SJP’s BDS campaign in any way.”
On February 24, 2019, the SGO Executive Board and Senate reportedly hosted an open meeting on the failed BDS resolution. At the open meeting, 40 SJP members and the newly-formed JVP chapter advocated for BDS.
On March 3, 2019, the SGO held another meeting inviting student groups to again discuss the BDS resolution. SGO’s President Gilbert Orbea motioned to hold a vote among members on whether to make the meeting closed, that succeeded, after which SGO held a secret vote. At the secret vote, the SGO voted in support of the divestment resolution.
On March 12, 2019, President Smith released a statement to Swarthmore’s website in which she declined to change Swarthmore’s investment policies in accordance with the BDS resolution.
BDS
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true.
One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”
Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”
In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”
The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.
BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.
The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.
Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.
BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100002931085087Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akshay0412/ [Private]
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshay-srinivasan0412/
- Status:
- Student
- University:
- Swarthmore
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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