Brown University trustee resigns ahead of divestment vote

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Following months of pro-Palestinian protests on Brown University’s campus, a trustee of the Brown Corporation is now resigning.

Trustee Joseph Edelman, who joined the Brown Corporation in 2019, posted an op-ed piece announcing his resignation in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend.

“I disagree with the upcoming divestment vote on Israel. I am concerned about what Brown’s willingness to hold such a vote suggests about the university’s attitude toward rising antisemitism on campus and a growing political movement that seeks the destruction of the state of Israel,” Edelman wrote in the op-ed.

Edelman added that he believes it is “morally reprehensible” that a divestment vote was even considered after October 7th, when Hamas terrorists launched a surprise attack on Israel.

In a statement to ABC 6 News Monday, a spokesperson for Brown University said in part, “While we value the service of our former trustee, he has a fundamental misunderstanding of the decisions that led to the upcoming vote on divestment. Far from a direct response to current activism, Brown is following an established process that is nearly a half-century old.”

The statement went on to say, “This long-held process is built on the principle that Brown has an obligation to examine and investigate claims challenging its moral responsibility.”

Last semester on campus ended with student protestors reaching an agreement with the administration.

A pro-Palestine encampment was taken down in exchange for a vote on divestment from companies with financial ties to Israeli forces in Palestine.

That vote will happen in October.

One student protestor told ABC 6 News that Edelman resigning is a small win for what they’re working towards.

“It is a resignation that rejects the fundamental ideals of the university, such as free inquiry, the ability to challenge power, the ability to ask questions, the idea that he would resign over even the holding of the vote is a fundamental egregious affront to academic freedom and the independence of this university,” said Rafi Ash of the Brown Divest Coalition.

The group of students against divestment that ABC 6 News has spoken with in the past declined to commend on Edelman’s resignation.

As part of the agreement made last spring, students that are for and against divestment are making their cases to the Advisory Committee on University Resources Management (ACURM) this week. That committee will then make a recommendation on whether the university to divest or not.