On the final day before the deadline for a University advisory committee to issue a recommendation on divestment, 150 students gathered outside of Faunce Arch Monday afternoon to rally in support of divestment from 10 companies with ties to Israel.
The protesters called on the Advisory Committee on University Resources Management to recommend divestment in line with a proposal penned by pro-divestment activists. President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 requested that the committee deliver its recommendation by Sept. 30.
Afterward, the Corporation will vote on a divestment resolution during its October meeting, regardless of whether ACURM recommends divestment.
A divestment recommendation would require a majority of ACURM’s 11 voting members to determine that divestment would help correct a social harm issue or that Brown investment in one of the 10 companies contributes to a “social harm so grave that it would be inconsistent with the goals and principles of the university,” per the committee’s charge.
Representatives from Brown’s investment office have noted that 96% of the endowment is invested by external managers, and the remaining 4% does not include any of the 10 companies that have been identified for potential divestment. “We are not going to actively or directly invest in any weapons manufacturers, arms manufacturers or defense contractors,” Chief Investment Officer Jane Dietze said at a town hall last year.
ACURM has heard presentations on pro- and anti-divestment proposals from students, and held open listening sessions to gather community feedback earlier this month.
“If ACURM does not take a stand now against the horrific violence unfolding in Palestine, what does Brown stand for?” Anila Lopez Marks ’26 said in a speech at the rally. Marks is a member of the student group Jews for Ceasefire Now and one of the students who presented pro-divestment arguments to ACURM.
“We are all here together because of our deep commitment to ending the war on Gaza and on Lebanon, and ending our university’s financial gains from the oppression of the Palestinian people,” Rafi Ash ’26, a JFCN organizer, told the crowd.
Niyanta Nepal ’25, the president of the Undergraduate Council of Students, urged the crowd to keep pushing the University to divest from Israel.
Nepal spoke to frustrations about the repeated need to prove social harm. “We are gathered here today, awaiting yet another recommendation coming to prove, once again, that there is social harm occurring on the ground in Palestine,” she said.
In 2020, an advisory committee recommended that the University divest from companies linked to Israel. Paxson did not bring the issue to a vote in the Corporation, stating that the University’s endowment will not be used “to take an institutional position on this issue.”
In the same letter, she also criticized the original recommendation, adding that it “does not meet the standard as stated in the committee’s charge.”
Speakers at the rally also called for the University to publicly accept five criteria for the Corporation’s vote on divestment, which they argue will ensure a “fair” and “transparent” voting process. These include a secret ballot voting process, access to a list of recused Corporation members and an October presentation of the proposal.
A counter-protester played music across the street for the duration of the protest.
Ken Schneider, a board member of the Rhode Island Coalition for Israel, attended the rally to “let (the protesters) know that there’s somebody on the other side.”
“My personal opinion is that they’re wasting their time,” Schneider said.
Avani Ghosh is a Metro editor covering politics and justice and community and activism. She is a junior from Ohio studying Health and Human Biology and International and Public Affairs. She is an avid earl grey enthusiast and can be found making tea in her free time.
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.
