Brown University rejects pro-Palestinian students’ demands to divest from Israel
Brown University trustees voted down a controversial proposal to cut financial ties with companies that do business with Israel — rejecting the demand made by pro-Palestinian student protesters.
“Brown University will not divest from 10 companies described in a student-led divestment proposal as facilitating ‘the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territory,’” the Ivy League school said in a statement on Wednesday.
Brown Corporation — the group that runs the school’s $7.2 billion endowment and chaired by Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan — cast their vote Tuesday over an issue that has roiled the campus in Providence, RI, since the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel by Hamas terrorists.
Brown administrators pledged to hold a formal vote on divestiture as a concession to the pro-Palestinian group this past spring in exchange for students voluntarily removing tent encampments in the days and weeks leading up to commencement ceremonies.
Divestment is a tactic promoted by the BDS movement, whose acronym stands for “boycott, divestment and sanctions” against Israel over its policies in the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Supporters of Israel argue the movement, which has taken root at college campuses across the country, is antisemitic.
Several high-powered Brown alums had opposed holding a vote, including hedge fund mogul Joseph Edelman and real estate investor Barry Sternlicht. Last month, Edelman, the CEO of Perceptive Advisors, quit the 54-member board in protest.
Two dozen attorneys general had also warned Brown of financial penalties if the trustees voted in favor of divestment, according to Bloomberg.
The 10 firms targeted for divestiture were Volvo, Airbus, Boeing, General Dynamics, General Electric, Motorola, Northrop Grumman, RTX Corporation, Textron and Safariland.
In its statement on Wednesday, the trustees noted that “Brown’s exposure to the 10 companies identified in the divestment proposal is de minimis” and that Brown “has no direct investments in any of the companies targeted for divestment.”
The university added that “any indirect exposure for Brown in these companies is so small that it could not be directly responsible for social harm.”
Last week, Brown said that its endowment saw an 11.3% return on its investment for the fiscal year that ended in June.
The handsome return allowed Brown to allocate $281 million to its operating budget — a record high.
Moynihan — whose decision to take up the voluntarily post as chancellor of Brown Corporation raised eyebrows — and Brown President Christina Paxson also stressed that the university’s “mission doesn’t encompass resolving or adjudicating global conflict.
“If the Corporation were to divest, it would signal to our students and scholars that there are ‘approved’ points of view to which members of the community are expected to conform.”
The pro-Palestinian student group fumed after losing the vote.
“This decision is a moral and ethical failure of unimaginable magnitude, compounded by the un-transparent, undemocratic, and frankly disgraceful manner in which the Corporation voted in secret,” the Brown Divest Coalition told Bloomberg News.
The Post has sought comment from Brown University Students for Justice in Palestine.
