Campus protesters want administrators to sell off investments in companies with ties to Israel. Here’s a look at what divestment means — and why universities are saying no.
It’s become a common mantra by protesters at universities across the country: „Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.“
Broadly, the protesters want their universities to sell off their investments in companies that have businesses or investments in Israel because of the country’s invasion of Gaza. That’s where the term divest comes from.
The calls on campsus vary. Columbia University protesters, for example, have a broad list of divestment targets, demanding the Ivy League college disclose and unload investments in a broad set of companies with ties to Israel, including Google, Amazon and Airbnb.
Other protesters at universities are targeting defense-related companies and weapon manufacturers. Cornell University protesters are calling for divestments from companies including Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Here’s a look at what divestment means.Why there’s a call for divestments
Protests against university investments have a long history.
During the 1970s and 1980s, students at Columbia and other universities successfully pressed administrators to sell off investments in companies doing business with South Africa over the country’s apartheid policies.
Since the 2010s, students have successfully called for some universities to divest themselves from companies tied to fossil fuels or to freeze their investments in that sector, including at Syracuse University.
