On February 10, 2016 the Black Student Union (BSU) at California State University Los Angeles (CSULA) announced their Prison Divestment Victory, and win for Reinvestment in Black Students.
In addition to complete divestment of CSULA from prison corporations, the BSU announced wins of permanent investments in recruitment and acceptance of Black students into CSULA, the creation of a Black Scholars Hall, and a required course to be taken by all students on diversity, and race & ethnicity.
In coordination with the Afrikan Black Coalition, a Steering Committee member of the National Prison Divestment Campaign, CSULA becomes the third University to divest from private prisons, following Columbia University in July 2015 and the University of California system in December 2015.
“This victory is a testament to the growing momentum in Universities and Cities across the country to untether our institutions from a dirty private prison industry that has lobbied to accelerate the era of mass incarceration and immigrant detention. These are visionary wins that show us what it means to divest from prisons, and reinvest in humanity.” said Amanda Aguilar Shank, Senior Organizer at Enlace, convener of the National Prison Divestment Campaign.
The next step is for the University of California, and cities and Universities across the country, to divest from Wells Fargo, which facilitates over $1.2 billion in access to capital for private prisons, without which they would be stopped in their tracks. You can support the Afrikan Black Coalition by signing the petition to pressure the University of California to divest from Wells Fargo.
The national Prison Divestment Campaign is a collaboration of immigrant rights, criminal justice, faith, labor, LGBTQ, students and worker centers working together to end the prison industry, deportations, and detention, and to demand a reinvestment in humanity.
Prison Industry Divestment Movement 