Tufts University. Photo: Wikipedia.

Tufts University’s Board of Trustees announced on Thursday it “will not divest from companies doing business in Israel,” after the school’s student government passed a BDS resolution in an “ambush” vote just ahead of Passover.

An email was sent by the board chairman, Peter Dolan, to the campus community stating that the decision was made in a meeting yesterday “that there will be no changes to the management of our endowment portfolio in response to [the student senate’s resolution].”

“Our decision is consistent with…our expressed opposition to academic boycotts of nations, including Israel,” Dolan wrote, according to a Tufts Friends of Israel (FOI) Facebook post, adding that Tufts remained supportive of “respectful expression and debate” about controversial topics “in an environment free from discrimination.”

The announcement throws a wrench in the plans of the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, whose spokesperson had told The Algemeiner that the group planned to call a meeting with the trustees before the end of the academic year to make a case for BDS.

Student Chad Kramer — who sits on the leadership board of FOI and serves as a Jewish National Fund campus fellow — told The Algemeiner, “It’s reassuring to receive such a firm message from our administration, but, at the same time, the passage of this resolution by our student government has made it clear that the hateful and misguided BDS and anti-Zionist movements have gained significant traction within our community, and there is much work to be done here to counter them.”

Jewish students told The Algemeiner they felt “betrayed” by their peers and university after the student senate voted in favor of BDS in a landslide the day before Passover, when many involved in Israeli advocacy were already home with their families for the holiday.