On Friday morning, as members of Brown’s governing Corporation convened for their October meeting, over 150 activists gathered to protest a recent decision against divesting from 10 companies with ties to Israel.
The protestors marched from the Main Green down to the Warren Alpert Medical School, where the Corporation meeting was held. They surrounded building exits and confronted Corporation members as they entered and exited the building.
The Corporation's decision to strike down the divestment proposal was publicly announced last Wednesday. It followed a recommendation by the Advisory Committee on University Resources Management, or ACURM, against adopting a student-backed proposal to divest from companies with ties to Israel. ACURM includes Brown community members and issues non-binding recommendations to the Corporation.
A press release from the Brown Divest Coalition, the student group that authored the divestment proposal, called the Corporation’s decision an “egregious moral failing and affront to democratic values the institution purports to uphold.”
The Corporation’s decision against divestment “resulted from a process that was deliberate, inclusive, fair and participatory,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark previously wrote to The Herald.
On the Main Green, students joined in chants and heard a speech from Niyanta Nepal ’25, the president of the Undergraduate Council of Students, in which she condemned the Corporation’s recent decision not to divest.
“We are here to continue demanding divestment, to stand in solidarity with our martyrs in Palestine and Lebanon and to solidify our strength as a mass movement for Palestine,” Nepal told the crowd.
Arman Deendar ’25, an organizer with Brown Divest Coalition, said ACURM’s recommendation process is “designed to fail for students wanting to actually make change on this campus.”
In its report, ACURM found that Brown’s indirect investment in the companies cited in the divestment proposal was not significant enough to meet the definition of “social harm” required for the committee to recommend divestment. Chancellor Brian Moynihan ’81 P’14 P’19 and President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 wrote in a letter to the community that ACURM’s recommendation “played a central role in the Corporation’s deliberations.”
A group of about five counter-protestors stood near the demonstrators on the Main Green, holding an Israeli flag and passing out pamphlets against an ongoing UCS referendum to add student seats to the Corporation.
After gathering on the Main Green, the group of protestors marched down the hill to the Warren Alpert Medical School and split up to surround multiple different entrances to the building.
At the entrance on Eddy Street, a group of about 40 protestors stood in front of the doors holding up large banners with pro-divestment slogans.
At another entrance, a larger group of approximately 50 protesters banged their drums, held banners and chanted loudly into bullhorns chants such as “disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”
“We’re gonna force them to watch us as they walk out of this building,” said Garrett Brand ’26, a rally organizer.
Brand stated that the goal of the protest was to “let (the Corporation) know that the shady way they handled the divestment vote will not stand.”
Just before noon, student protesters followed Earl E. Hunt and Oliver Haarmann, two members of the Corporation, as they left the building to buy lunch at a nearby restaurant. Protestors quickly formed a crowd around them, chanting against divestment and calling them out by name.
The crowd followed Hunt and Haarmann back to Warren Alpert. The two were escorted inside by Department of Public Safety officers.
After their meeting ended, the Corporation members left through different exits. Some walked out of the building and were pursued by protestors, while others were escorted by officers to chartered Brown University Shuttle buses.
As Corporation members walked out, the demonstrators chanted and jeered at them. At one point, protestors surrounded one of the buses and temporarily prevented it from driving through an intersection.
Bennett Lacerte ’27 said that he was proud of how the protest had gone so far.
“We’ve definitely succeeded in making the Corporation know that we’re here and making them uncomfortable,” he said.
Lacerte felt that the protesters had put their all into the demonstration. “It’s a lot to maintain energy for this long, but I think we’re doing well so far,” he said.
Protestors left Warren Alpert around 1:30 p.m. and marched back to the Main Green.
Kate Butts is a senior staff writer covering University Hall. Outside of The Herald, she loves running, board games and Trader Joe's snacks.
Cate Latimer is a senior staff writer covering faculty and higher education. She is from Portland, OR, and studies English and Urban Studies. In her free time, you can find her playing ultimate frisbee or rewatching episodes of Parks and Rec.
Sophia Wotman is a senior staff writer covering activism. She is a junior from Long Island, New York concentrating in Political Science with a focus on women’s rights. She is a jazz trumpet player, and often performs on campus and around Providence.
