Corporation at Brown University votes not to divest from companies invested in Israel
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The Corporation at Brown University voted not to divest from 10 companies that the student encampment protests said were “facilitating the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territory.”
The corporation voted in support of a recommendation from the university’s Advisory Committee on University Resources Management against divestment.
In a letter sent to the campus, the corporation said that ACURM found that the university “has no direct investments in any of the companies targeted for divestment and that any indirect exposure for Brown in these companies is so small that it could not be directly responsible for social harm.”
With a vote by its governing body to accept an advisory committee recommendation, Brown will not divest from 10 companies described in a student-led proposal as facilitating “the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territory.” https://t.co/07M4W7xOQD
— Brown University (@BrownUniversity) October 9, 2024
“ACURM’s analysis shows that, based on data from June 30, 2023, Brown’s indirect investments in the 10 companies represent only 0.009% of their aggregate market value,” the letter continued.
University Chancellor Brian Moynihan and President Christina Paxson said that questions on how divestment works generally will need to be answered, but that it will be aligned with the university’s Public Statements Policy, which states the school “does not make institutional statements on social, political, or policy matters unrelated to the University’s operations in advancing education, scholarship, and discovery.”
“It is clear that the endowment should not and will not be used to take a stance on the contested geopolitical issues in the Middle East,” Moynihan and Paxson said.
The Brown Divest Coalition released the following statement on the vote:
This is a moral stain on Brown University, a clear affront to democratic values of the institution, and an egregious erasure of the insurmountable violence enacted by the Israeli regime in Gaza and now Lebanon. This decision makes one thing clear: our university has at least $66 million dollars invested in companies that facilitate Israel’s genocide, apartheid, and military occupation and still refuses to dissociate from these funds. This decision is a moral and ethical failure of unimaginable magnitude, compounded by the untransparent, undemocratic, and frankly disgraceful manner in which the corporation voted in secret.
