University of California official says system has $32 billion in holdings targeted by protesters
SOPHIE AUSTIN
Wed, May 15, 2024
Demonstrators wave flags on the UCLA campus, after nighttime clashes between Pro-Israel and Pro-Palestinian groups, May 1, 2024, in Los Angeles. If the University of California, one of the largest public university systems in the country, were to agree to divestment calls from students protesting the Israel-Hamas war, the system would lose $32 billion of its overall $175 billion in assets, officials said on Tuesday, May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)More
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Investments in weapons manufacturers and a wide array of other companies by the University of California targeted by students protesting the Israel-Hamas war represent $32 billion - or nearly one-fifth - of the system's overall assets, the system's chief investment officer says.
UC Chief Investment Officer Jagdeep Singh Bachher unveiled the estimate Tuesday at the first public Board of Regents meeting since nationwide pro-Palestinian student protests began in April. The calculation was in response to a letter he received last month from the UC Divest Coalition, which is scrutinizing the system's overall $175 billion in assets.
The group asked for the system to halt its investments in weapons manufacturers, the investment firms Blackstone and BlackRock, and two dozen companies across the entertainment, technology and beverage industries.
Bachher said that would apply to investments that include: $3.3 billion in holdings from groups with ties to weapons manufacturers; $12 billion in U.S. treasuries; $163 million in the investment firm BlackRock and $2.1 billion in bonds that BlackRock manages; $8.6 billion from Blackstone and $3.2 billion from the other 24 companies.
“We pride ourselves on a culture of transparency,” Bachher said, adding that it is important to listen to and engage with students.
The University of California system said last month it would not boycott or divest from Israel, and the regents have not indicated a change in position during this week's meetings.
In 1986, the regents voted to divest $3.1 billion from companies doing business with South Africa's apartheid government after more than a year of student protests. The system also dropped its investments in fossil fuels in 2020.
For weeks, students at campuses across the country have been protesting and setting up encampments at their universities to call on them to be more transparent about their investments and to divest from companies that financially support Israel. The demonstrations have led to disruptions, arrests and debates over free speech rights. Tensions between protesters, law enforcement and administration at the University of California, Los Angeles, have garnered some of the most attention.
The protests stem from the current Israel-Hamas conflict which started on Oct. 7 when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of Gaza’s inhabitants.
In a letter provided to The Associated Press by the UC president’s office, the UC Divest Coalition — which is made up of anti-war student advocates across UC campuses — asked the university system to end any investments in “companies that perpetuate war or weapons manufacturing, including companies that give economic support to the state of Israel, and therefore perpetuate the ongoing occupation and genocide of the Palestinian people.”
“Investment in arms production is antithetical to the UC’s expressed values and the moral concerns of the students, workers, and faculty that the Regents represent,” the letter says.
The United Nation's top court in January ruled that Israel must do all it can to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza but did not order an end to Israel's military activities in the territories. The ruling was in response to a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in violation of international law. Israel has denied that it is committing genocide.
The coalition did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent via email and social media on the letter and the $32 billion estimate.
At a meeting that lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours Tuesday, some students and faculty called for the system to divest from groups with ties to Israel, some faculty raised concerns about antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus, and regents asked investment committee members what it would mean to divest.
Holly Yu, a student studying ethnic studies at the University of California, Merced, urged officials to recognize that students are “expected to continue our everyday lives” as the death toll rises in Gaza.
“Please listen to the voices of your students and stand in solidarity with us by divesting immediately,” Yu said.
Regents said that the question of what it would mean to divest does not have a straight-forward answer.
“We need to be able to articulate to our students that are demanding divestment as to why it’s not so simple,” Regent Jose M. Hernandez said. "It’s not just a matter of selling a coupon and saying ‘okay, we don’t want this, so we’re going to invest in another company.’”
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Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on the social platform X: @sophieadanna
UC Berkeley encampment comes down after school agrees to review investments
Alicia Victoria Lozano
Wed, May 15, 2024 at 5:48 PM MDT·3 min read
Antiwar student protesters at the University of California, Berkeley, began dismantling their encampment Tuesday after reaching an agreement with administrators at the school over its Israel-related investments.
Protesters had been calling for the university to completely divest from weapons manufacturers and other Israeli businesses that have ties to military operations in Gaza, including weapons manufacturers and surveillance companies.
High-level investment decisions cannot be made by individual institutions under the University of California system, but instead fall to the UC Board of Regents.
Because UC Berkeley administrators cannot independently divest from all companies, Chancellor Carol Christ agreed to support and initiate a "rigorous examination" of the school's investments.
"The University of California has decided in the past to divest from businesses that were determined to not be aligned with our values," Christ wrote in one of two letters sent to protest organizers. "We should examine whether UC Berkeley’s investments continue to align with our values or should be modified in order to do so."
She also said Berkeley would investigate discrimination complaints against Palestinian students and establish a task force by the end June to review financial dealings involving the UC Berkeley Foundation, a private fundraising entity.
The concessions end a three-week standoff between antiwar protesters and school administrators, who walked a tightrope for much of the year, trying to balance free speech rights with concerns over antisemitism and Islamophobia.
University officials decided early on not to call police unless absolutely necessary. Unlike other universities where students were arrested or tussled sometimes violently with counterprotesters, UC Berkeley's encampment was largely peaceful.
No one was arrested and no fights broke out. The encampment, which grew to some 200 tents, featured daily activities, including student- and faculty-led lectures, arts programming, film screenings and an interfaith seder during Passover.
Even though the encampment was dismantled, protesters vowed to continue fighting for divestment across the University of California system. On Wednesday, they took their demonstrations to the University of California, Merced, where the board of regents is holding a three-day meeting.
"This is not a victory," UCB Divest Coalition, one of the protest organizing bodies, said in a statement. "Our fight continues to a new terrain."
On Tuesday, a handful of people spoke against the war in Gaza during opening remarks at the Merced meeting. Many echoed calls for divestment from Israeli companies with ties to the country's military operations, drawing parallels to 1986, when the university system divested from South Africa's stock holdings during apartheid.
In his presentation, Jagdeep Singh Bachher, the university system’s chief investment officer, outlined UC's vast financial dealings. More than 18% of the $175 billion investment portfolio is tied to Israel, he said.
Of that total, antiwar student protesters are asking the system to divest some $32 billion, according to Bachher.
“These assets belong to the entire university,” he said, adding that 350,000 people, including employees and retirees, depend on returns to pay for pensions and health benefits.
"Anytime we've done things about buying and selling things from the portfolio, we've aimed to do it uniformly across all the portfolios that we manage at the University of California, not for any one group of constituents," he said. "That is the responsibility we take very seriously."
On other college campuses, antiwar protests appear to have dwindled as commencements take place. Students at Harvard University took down their encampment on Tuesday, a day after students at Williams College in Massachusetts dismantled theirs.
Some commencements have featured antiwar demonstrations, including at UC Berkeley, where graduate and law students disrupted ceremonies with signs and chants to divest.
Pro-Palestinian protesters remain on campus at UC Merced to make their voices heard during a UC Board of Regents meeting on Tuesday.
Protesters seen dismantling camp at UC Berkeley
Reuters Video
Sonoma State president put on leave for 'insubordination' for supporting Israel academic boycott, divestment
Jaweed Kaleem
Wed, May 15, 2024
The clocktower in front of the library at Sonoma State University. (Alyssa Archerda / SSU.edu)
The president of Sonoma State University was placed on leave Wednesday, a day after he released a controversial campuswide message on the Israel-Hamas war that said the university would pursue "divestment strategies" and endorsed an academic boycott of Israeli universities.
California State University Chancellor Mildred García announced the decision in a statement posted to the CSU website, saying that Sonoma State President Mike Lee was taken off the job for his "insubordination" in making the statement without "appropriate approvals."
Pro-Palestinian student encampment protesters celebrated when Lee released a letter to the roughly 6,000-student member Rohnert Park campus on Tuesday that met enough of their requests for activists to agree to dismantle their camp by Wednesday evening.
"SSU Demands Met!" said a post on the SSU Students for Justice in Palestine Instagram with the caption "brick by brick, wall by wall" that showed screenshots of Lee's letter.
In his letter, Lee promised to pursue "divestment strategies that include seeking ethical alternatives" in consultation with pro-Palestinian activists and said he supported an academic boycott of Israel.
"SSU will not pursue or engage in any study abroad programs, faculty exchanges, or other formal collaborations that are sponsored by, or represent, the Israeli state academic and research institutions," Lee's Tuesday letter said.
Read more: UC Berkeley to consider divesting from weapons makers as pro-Palestinian protesters break camp
Lee's statement stood out. While other universities have recently said they will look into divesting from weapons companies, including UC Berkeley and UC Riverside, nearly all in the U.S. have rejected calls to target Israel specifically or to boycott formal exchange or research partnerships with Israeli universities.
In rejecting such calls, the universities have cited their support of academic freedom and anti-discrimination policies. Some have also noted that a 2016 state law signed by then Gov. Jerry Brown banned giving state grants or contracts worth more than $100,000 to state universities that targeted Israel in endorsing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
Lee's statement immediately drew criticism from Jewish students, parents and community groups.
Speaking at a Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California conference in Sacramento on Wednesday, California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who serves on the CSU Board of Trustees, slammed campuses for moving forward with agreements to quell protests.
"Each campus is handling these situations in their own way with inconsistencies and frankly, sometimes coming up with agreements that they really don't have the authority to come up with,” said Kounalakis, who spoke before Lee was put on leave.
Read more: Police clear UC Irvine camp, make arrests after protesters occupy science building
Kounalakis, a Democrat, said campuses were “woefully unprepared” for the recent protests.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who made a video appearance at the same Wednesday event to promote his plan to counter antisemitism, said last week that he did "not support divestment."
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) and Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), co-chairs of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, commended García's decision, saying in a statement that Lee's support of an academic boycott "was totally unacceptable and evidence that former President Lee is unfit to lead one of our great state institutions. We look forward to working with Chancellor García and the CSU Trustees to pursue a different path that will promote learning, respectful dialogue, mutual respect, inclusivity, and peace.”
In her letter announcing that Lee would step aside, García said she was "deeply concerned" about his words.
"Our role as educators is to support and uplift all members of the California State University. I want to acknowledge how deeply concerned I am about the impact the statement has had on the Sonoma State community, and how challenging and painful it will be for many of our students and community members to see and read," García said. "The heart and mission of the CSU is to create an inclusive and welcoming place for everyone we serve, not to marginalize one community over another."
In his own letter on his departure, Lee apologized, saying he had "marginalized other members of our student population" and that "I realize the harm that this has caused, and I take full ownership of it. I deeply regret the unintended consequences of my actions."
"I want to be clear: The message was drafted and sent without the approval of, or consultation with, the Chancellor or other system leaders. The points outlined in the message were mine alone, and do not represent the views of my colleagues or the CSU," Lee wrote.
It was unclear how long Lee will be out. He has been on the job for 20 months, about half the time as interim president.
In an interview with The Times, kinesiology professor Lauren Morimoto said she supported Lee.
"As of now, the Academic Senate has not made a statement about Mike Lee's announcement. However, I'm meeting with the Board of the Asian Pacific Islander American Faculty and Staff Association and we stand in solidarity with Mike Lee and the student protesters...," said Morimoto, the former chair of the academic senate. "I will ask to be added to tomorrow's agenda to present a resolution of support for Mike Lee and the student protesters and the demands they were able to negotiate with the university."
Staff writers Colleen Shalby and Mackenzie Mays contributed reporting.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Bay Area university accused of ‘blacklisting Israel’ in striking agreement with protesters
Terisa Estacio
Wed, May 15, 2024
(KRON) — There’s controversy in the North Bay after the president of a Northern California state university put forth an agreement with protesters and members of Students for Justice in Palestine. The school president laying out a detailed plan to look at divestment and ending an exchange program.
But now, a state lawmaker is speaking out, calling the agreement awful.
“This is horrific and wrong, my jaw dropped when I read the letter,” said State Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat.
Oakland restaurant burglarized twice in one day asks community for help
Sen. Wiener is talking about a letter sent out Tuesday evening to the Sonoma State campus community detailing an agreement the state school struck an agreement with students protesting the war in Gaza.
Photo: KRON4.com
More than 19 days ago, protestors set up encampments at Sonoma State. The university president, Mike Lee said he has listened to their demands.
In the letter, Lee said in part:
“None of us should be on the sidelines when human beings are subject to mass killing and destruction. I have said this before and it merits repeating; this is no political, religious or cultural principle that merits the murder of innocent and the one battle we should all be engaged in is the fight for inclusion, respect, and freedom of all people regardless of their background or identity.”
Lee then laid out a series of agreements struck with the protestors, including:
Reviewing the school’s investments
Declaring an academic boycott with Israeli universities
Recognizing a Palestinian curriculum
Calling on a permanent cease-fire in Gaza
“He is basically blacklisting Israel,” Wiener said.
On social media, protesters at Sonoma State applauded the agreement, calling it a win and saying their demands were met. KRON4.com reached out to Sonoma State University and they responded, saying they have received many requests for comment about the president’s letter and will be issuing a statement.
We also reached out to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area. We have not yet heard back.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
UC Berkeley to consider divesting from weapons makers as pro-Palestinian protesters break camp
Jaweed Kaleem, Teresa Watanabe, Hannah Wiley
Tue, May 14, 2024
Pro-Palestinian student protesters at UC Berkeley agreed to remove their encampment. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
Pro-Palestinian protesters at UC Berkeley have removed tents on a central campus plaza in an agreement that appeared to end one of the largest and longest student encampments in the country as Chancellor Carol Christ said she would initiate a discussion about the university's investments in weapons companies and the possible divestment from them.
The move to dismantle the encampment, which swelled to more than 180 tents and hundreds of students at its peak, notably included no police presence or arrests at a time when some universities — including UCLA, USC, Pomona College and Cal Poly Humboldt — have faced immense criticism for using police to clear camps or building takeovers by pro-Palestinian protesters. Ongoing turmoil has racked UCLA since an encampment there came under a violent mob attack two weeks ago.
The Berkeley agreement joins ones at at least four other California universities and several across the country that have forged settlements with activists to end campus encampments that some Jewish students say have included antisemitic signage and chants. While no schools have agreed specifically to divest from ties to Israel — a demand of protesters — each has indicated that it will explore proposals to tighten investment policies regarding companies that sell weapons.
Pro-Palestinian protesters at UC Berkeley said they dismantled their encampment and were going to protest at the UC regents meeting at UC Merced on Wednesday. (Hannah Wiley / Los Angeles Times)
At UC Berkeley, in two letters released Tuesday on the university website, Christ rejected calls for the university to directly target Israel through divestment or cutting ties with Israeli universities. Instead, she said the university would review complaints about discrimination against Palestinians and other groups in academic partnerships such as exchange programs. And the chancellor said she supported examining Berkeley's investments in "a targeted list of companies due to their participation in weapons manufacturing, mass incarceration, and/or surveillance industries."
The letters said that the university would create a task force by the end of June that includes faculty, students and staff to examine whether the investments of the UC Berkeley Foundation, the university’s primary private fundraising arm, "align with our values or should be modified in order to do so."
As of June 30, UC Berkeley's endowment had a total market value of $7.4 billion, with $2.9 billion held by the UC Berkeley Foundation and $4.5 billion held by the University of California regents. Christ said she expected a report on findings by the fall.
She also agreed to push UC regents on divestment. "I will encourage the Chair of the Regents Investment Committee to develop a framework to consider ethical issues concerning investment and any changes in investment strategy. Such a framework should involve broad-based engagement with the community," one letter said.
The chancellor had resisted pressure to forcibly take down the encampment and instead sought to negotiate with protesters. In an interview with The Times last week, she said the Berkeley encampment had been "largely peaceful, very well run," although some of the protest banners had disturbed her.
"I’ve got a long history of Berkeley, and in my experience protests don’t end with police action," Christ said. "They end with negotiations."
Read more: A staggering two weeks at UCLA: Protest, violence, division mark 'dark chapter'
On Tuesday afternoon, a banner displayed across Sproul Hall before campers departed read, "Free Palestine encampment until UC divests. Glory to the martyrs, victory to the resistance."
Students, who staged a rally Tuesday afternoon, read Christ's letters and applauded the chancellor's expression of support for an "immediate and permanent cease-fire" in the Israel-Hamas war.
Activists said their protests are not over.
"We are not declaring victory. We are saying it is time to move on to the next step, to take this campaign, to take this movement, to the office of the regents, to the office of the president, until we win complete divestment," a student leader said.
Divestment "won’t come from Berkeley. It will come from the regents ... deciding and determining that, ‘Yes, we no longer want to have blood on our hands,'" said Banan Abdelrahman, a graduate student and member of the UC Berkeley Divest coalition.
In a statement released Tuesday evening, organizers of the encampment said, "Palestinians have given us the roadmap to liberation, and we will keep treading that path — from Berkeley to Merced all the way to a free Jerusalem in a free Palestine."
Students said they would travel to UC Merced, where protesters from across the state planned to converge at Wednesday's regents meeting.
Speaking at the regents committee meeting Tuesday in Merced, UC Chief Investment Officer Jagdeep Singh Bachher said that more than 18% of UC’s $175 billion in investments is tied to Israel, weapons companies and other holdings targeted by pro-Palestinian divestment activists. He said the funds were indirectly invested, such as through index mutual funds or U.S. Treasury bonds.
Berkeley protesters also encouraged members of the UAW Local 4811 academic workers union to support a strike vote. Results were expected Wednesday night.
The union, which represents 48,000 workers across the 10 University of California campuses, including graduate students who are teaching assistants, has filed unfair labor practice charges against the university system after arrests of pro-Palestinian graduate student protesters at UCLA and the issuing of suspensions and other discipline at UC San Diego and UC Irvine. The union has accused the university of retaliating against student workers and unlawfully changing workplace policies to suppress pro-Palestinian speech.
The dismantling of the UC Berkeley encampment does not end the controversy at the university. The campus for months has been roiled by deep divisions over pro-Palestinian activism, which some members of the Jewish community said has veered into antisemitism.
Read more: 'Please leave!' A Jewish UC Berkeley dean confronts pro-Palestinian activist at his home
The Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council criticized the university for its response.
"The concessions that have come as a result of the encampment have rewarded students for violating university rules and harassing other students, particularly Jewish students," said Jeremy Russell, a spokesman for the council. "It's appalling that the administration was not able to respect the activists' right to free speech and peaceful protest without capitulating to demands and encouraging, even if inadvertently, the violation of their own policies."
In March, the U.S. Department of Education launched a civil rights investigation into UC Berkeley over potential “shared ancestry violations” of Title Vl of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law bans discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin, including harassment based on a shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.
The investigation followed a volatile incident in February when protesters targeted a campus event featuring a controversial Israeli speaker. The protest escalated and UC Berkeley police evacuated the event as demonstrators broke open a door to the building and shattered a window. The university launched its own investigation into the incident. A rescheduled event for the speaker later took place without incident.
The UC Berkeley pro-Palestinian protesters, a coalition of dozens of university groups, set up the camp April 22. It had demanded that the university call for a cease-fire in the war in Gaza, divest from investments in weapons and military companies tied to the war and Israel's occupation of the West Bank, sever ties with Israeli universities and establish a Palestinian Studies program.
The University of California has rejected calls for divestment. In late April, it said in a statement that the university system "has consistently opposed calls for boycott against and divestment from Israel. ... A boycott of this sort impinges on the academic freedom of our students and faculty and the unfettered exchange of ideas on our campuses."
In her Tuesday letters, Christ, who is retiring at the end of June, reiterated the position. "As stated by the University of California Office of the President, divestment from companies on the basis of whether or not they do business with or in Israel is not supported. The sale of direct investments is not within the authority of the Office of the Chancellor but rather lies with the UC regents."
Read more: 'We will not move.' Pro-Palestinian encampments, protests grow at California universities
Also on Tuesday, Harvard University activists who had set up for 20 days in Harvard Yard said they would end their protest. The university did not agree to divestment. It said in a statement that it would "pursue a meeting between encampment participants and the chair of the corporation committee on shareholder responsibility and other university leaders for a discussion regarding students’ questions related to the endowment.”
Harvard also said it would reinstate at least 22 student protesters who had been put on involuntary leaves of absence.
"We are under no illusions: we do not believe these meetings are divestment wins. These side-deals are intended to pacify us away from full disclosure & divestment. Rest assured, they will not,” said a statement from the encampment group, Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine.
The recent agreements between colleges and student protesters in California share similarities in providing official forums for discussion on investments, although some go further on divestment.
UC Riverside Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox signed off May 3 on an agreement to end the encampment at his campus. It was the first such agreement at a UC campus and said that the university would publicly make a "full disclosure" of the companies and size of its investments.
It also said that UC Riverside would form a task force that includes students and faculty to "explore the removal of UCR's endowment from the management of the UC investments office and the investment of said endowment in a manner that will be financially and ethically sound for the university with consideration to the companies involved in arms manufacturing and delivery." The task force would present its findings to the board of trustees by March 21, 2025.
"It has been my goal to resolve this matter peacefully and I am encouraged by this outcome — which was generated through constructive dialogue,” Wilcox said in a statement.
“This agreement does not change the realities of the war in Gaza, or the need to address antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bias and discrimination," Wilcox said. "However, I am grateful that we can have constructive and peaceful conversations on how to address these complex issues.”
A sign on the site of the UC Berkeley encampment signaled protesters' next move. (Hannah Wiley / Los Angeles Times)
Sacramento State
President Luke Wood announced May 8 that the university had agreed with protesters to change its investment policy for its five auxiliaries managed by the university — including a philanthropic and fundraising arm — to focus only on "socially responsible investment strategies which include not having direct investments in corporations and funds that profit from genocide, ethnic cleansing, and activities that violate fundamental human rights." The university also said it did not have direct ties to funds related to the Israeli military.
At Occidental College, a pro-Palestinian encampment came down Friday after an agreement was signed that said the college’s board of trustees would vote by June 6 on whether to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
"Demonstrators agree not to cause or promote substantial disruption of Occidental’s Commencement ceremony on May 19, 2024, which would create safety concerns for attendees, violate any College policies, or require pausing, canceling, or relocating of the event," the agreement said.
On Tuesday, protesters at Sonoma State University agreed to end their encampment after President Mike Lee met several demands, including vowing to create a Palestinian studies curriculum and not pursue academic partnerships that are "sponsored by, or represent, the Israeli state academic and research institutions." Lee said the university would look into "divestment strategies."
Kaleem reported from Los Angeles, Watanabe from Merced and Wiley from Berkeley.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
SOPHIE AUSTIN
Wed, May 15, 2024
Demonstrators wave flags on the UCLA campus, after nighttime clashes between Pro-Israel and Pro-Palestinian groups, May 1, 2024, in Los Angeles. If the University of California, one of the largest public university systems in the country, were to agree to divestment calls from students protesting the Israel-Hamas war, the system would lose $32 billion of its overall $175 billion in assets, officials said on Tuesday, May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)More
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Investments in weapons manufacturers and a wide array of other companies by the University of California targeted by students protesting the Israel-Hamas war represent $32 billion - or nearly one-fifth - of the system's overall assets, the system's chief investment officer says.
UC Chief Investment Officer Jagdeep Singh Bachher unveiled the estimate Tuesday at the first public Board of Regents meeting since nationwide pro-Palestinian student protests began in April. The calculation was in response to a letter he received last month from the UC Divest Coalition, which is scrutinizing the system's overall $175 billion in assets.
The group asked for the system to halt its investments in weapons manufacturers, the investment firms Blackstone and BlackRock, and two dozen companies across the entertainment, technology and beverage industries.
Bachher said that would apply to investments that include: $3.3 billion in holdings from groups with ties to weapons manufacturers; $12 billion in U.S. treasuries; $163 million in the investment firm BlackRock and $2.1 billion in bonds that BlackRock manages; $8.6 billion from Blackstone and $3.2 billion from the other 24 companies.
“We pride ourselves on a culture of transparency,” Bachher said, adding that it is important to listen to and engage with students.
The University of California system said last month it would not boycott or divest from Israel, and the regents have not indicated a change in position during this week's meetings.
In 1986, the regents voted to divest $3.1 billion from companies doing business with South Africa's apartheid government after more than a year of student protests. The system also dropped its investments in fossil fuels in 2020.
For weeks, students at campuses across the country have been protesting and setting up encampments at their universities to call on them to be more transparent about their investments and to divest from companies that financially support Israel. The demonstrations have led to disruptions, arrests and debates over free speech rights. Tensions between protesters, law enforcement and administration at the University of California, Los Angeles, have garnered some of the most attention.
The protests stem from the current Israel-Hamas conflict which started on Oct. 7 when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of Gaza’s inhabitants.
In a letter provided to The Associated Press by the UC president’s office, the UC Divest Coalition — which is made up of anti-war student advocates across UC campuses — asked the university system to end any investments in “companies that perpetuate war or weapons manufacturing, including companies that give economic support to the state of Israel, and therefore perpetuate the ongoing occupation and genocide of the Palestinian people.”
“Investment in arms production is antithetical to the UC’s expressed values and the moral concerns of the students, workers, and faculty that the Regents represent,” the letter says.
The United Nation's top court in January ruled that Israel must do all it can to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza but did not order an end to Israel's military activities in the territories. The ruling was in response to a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in violation of international law. Israel has denied that it is committing genocide.
The coalition did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent via email and social media on the letter and the $32 billion estimate.
At a meeting that lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours Tuesday, some students and faculty called for the system to divest from groups with ties to Israel, some faculty raised concerns about antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus, and regents asked investment committee members what it would mean to divest.
Holly Yu, a student studying ethnic studies at the University of California, Merced, urged officials to recognize that students are “expected to continue our everyday lives” as the death toll rises in Gaza.
“Please listen to the voices of your students and stand in solidarity with us by divesting immediately,” Yu said.
Regents said that the question of what it would mean to divest does not have a straight-forward answer.
“We need to be able to articulate to our students that are demanding divestment as to why it’s not so simple,” Regent Jose M. Hernandez said. "It’s not just a matter of selling a coupon and saying ‘okay, we don’t want this, so we’re going to invest in another company.’”
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Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on the social platform X: @sophieadanna
UC Berkeley encampment comes down after school agrees to review investments
Alicia Victoria Lozano
Wed, May 15, 2024 at 5:48 PM MDT·3 min read
Antiwar student protesters at the University of California, Berkeley, began dismantling their encampment Tuesday after reaching an agreement with administrators at the school over its Israel-related investments.
Protesters had been calling for the university to completely divest from weapons manufacturers and other Israeli businesses that have ties to military operations in Gaza, including weapons manufacturers and surveillance companies.
High-level investment decisions cannot be made by individual institutions under the University of California system, but instead fall to the UC Board of Regents.
Because UC Berkeley administrators cannot independently divest from all companies, Chancellor Carol Christ agreed to support and initiate a "rigorous examination" of the school's investments.
"The University of California has decided in the past to divest from businesses that were determined to not be aligned with our values," Christ wrote in one of two letters sent to protest organizers. "We should examine whether UC Berkeley’s investments continue to align with our values or should be modified in order to do so."
She also said Berkeley would investigate discrimination complaints against Palestinian students and establish a task force by the end June to review financial dealings involving the UC Berkeley Foundation, a private fundraising entity.
The concessions end a three-week standoff between antiwar protesters and school administrators, who walked a tightrope for much of the year, trying to balance free speech rights with concerns over antisemitism and Islamophobia.
University officials decided early on not to call police unless absolutely necessary. Unlike other universities where students were arrested or tussled sometimes violently with counterprotesters, UC Berkeley's encampment was largely peaceful.
No one was arrested and no fights broke out. The encampment, which grew to some 200 tents, featured daily activities, including student- and faculty-led lectures, arts programming, film screenings and an interfaith seder during Passover.
Even though the encampment was dismantled, protesters vowed to continue fighting for divestment across the University of California system. On Wednesday, they took their demonstrations to the University of California, Merced, where the board of regents is holding a three-day meeting.
"This is not a victory," UCB Divest Coalition, one of the protest organizing bodies, said in a statement. "Our fight continues to a new terrain."
On Tuesday, a handful of people spoke against the war in Gaza during opening remarks at the Merced meeting. Many echoed calls for divestment from Israeli companies with ties to the country's military operations, drawing parallels to 1986, when the university system divested from South Africa's stock holdings during apartheid.
In his presentation, Jagdeep Singh Bachher, the university system’s chief investment officer, outlined UC's vast financial dealings. More than 18% of the $175 billion investment portfolio is tied to Israel, he said.
Of that total, antiwar student protesters are asking the system to divest some $32 billion, according to Bachher.
“These assets belong to the entire university,” he said, adding that 350,000 people, including employees and retirees, depend on returns to pay for pensions and health benefits.
"Anytime we've done things about buying and selling things from the portfolio, we've aimed to do it uniformly across all the portfolios that we manage at the University of California, not for any one group of constituents," he said. "That is the responsibility we take very seriously."
On other college campuses, antiwar protests appear to have dwindled as commencements take place. Students at Harvard University took down their encampment on Tuesday, a day after students at Williams College in Massachusetts dismantled theirs.
Some commencements have featured antiwar demonstrations, including at UC Berkeley, where graduate and law students disrupted ceremonies with signs and chants to divest.
Pro-Palestinian protesters remain on campus at UC Merced to make their voices heard during a UC Board of Regents meeting on Tuesday.
Protesters seen dismantling camp at UC Berkeley
Reuters Video
TRANSCRIPT
Wed, May 15, 2024
STORY: :: Aerial footage shows Pro-Palestinian demonstrators
dismantling encampment at UC Berkeley
:: May 14, 2024
:: UC Berkeley officials agreed to meet with protesters
after the camp is cleared, local media reported
:: Berkeley, California
Local media reported that UC Berkeley officials have agreed to meet with protesters after the encampment is cleared. No other details about the conditions or terms were known.
Student protests over the war in Gaza have swept the U.S. in past weeks, with police clearing a number of encampments, at times after confrontations between protesters and counter-protesters; other tent protests dismantled after universities agreed to protesters' demands; and some demonstrations continuing.
Some school administrators have called in local law enforcement to arrest protesters and clear camps and sit-ins. Others have let camps operate or reached deals to end protests.
The University of California, Berkeley has allowed a pro-Palestinian camp so long as it does not disrupt campus operations and there is no threat of violence.
Bay Area group arrives at UC Merced to support Palestine
John Houghton
Wed, May 15, 2024 at 10:00 AM MDT·1 min read
Bay Area group arrives at UC Merced to support Palestine
FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – What’s described as a “large rally” arrived at the UC Merced campus on Wednesday to ask the UC to withdraw investments from Israel “and enterprises of US militarism implicated in the ongoing atrocities perpetrated against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
The group, said to be made up of hundreds of students, faculty, and Bay Area community, is set to rally at the UC Regents meeting, which is also taking place at UC Merced. The UC Board of Regents is meeting on the UC Merced campus until May 16.
Over 100 people were counted at the demonstration on Wednesday, approximately twice as many who were present at the demonstration on Tuesday, reporters told YourCentralValley.com.
UC Merced encampment: What are their demands?
The rally follows a pro-Palestine encampment set up at UC Merced earlier this week. The protest group, UC Merced Gaza Solidarity Encampment led by Students for Justice in Palestine has been posted at UC Merced’s campus since May 12.
We are demanding that the UC Regents heed the call of their students, faculty, and alumni, as they did in 1985 when they made the historic decision to divest from South African apartheid.
Kassem Hamideh, a student at the University of California, Berkeley
UC Alumni for Palestine say they have collected over 13,000 signatures demanding the University of California divest from Israel immediately.
According to the group, Wednesday marks the 76th anniversary of the ‘Nakba’ or “catastrophe” in Arabic.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
STORY: :: Aerial footage shows Pro-Palestinian demonstrators
dismantling encampment at UC Berkeley
:: May 14, 2024
:: UC Berkeley officials agreed to meet with protesters
after the camp is cleared, local media reported
:: Berkeley, California
Local media reported that UC Berkeley officials have agreed to meet with protesters after the encampment is cleared. No other details about the conditions or terms were known.
Student protests over the war in Gaza have swept the U.S. in past weeks, with police clearing a number of encampments, at times after confrontations between protesters and counter-protesters; other tent protests dismantled after universities agreed to protesters' demands; and some demonstrations continuing.
Some school administrators have called in local law enforcement to arrest protesters and clear camps and sit-ins. Others have let camps operate or reached deals to end protests.
The University of California, Berkeley has allowed a pro-Palestinian camp so long as it does not disrupt campus operations and there is no threat of violence.
Bay Area group arrives at UC Merced to support Palestine
John Houghton
Wed, May 15, 2024 at 10:00 AM MDT·1 min read
Bay Area group arrives at UC Merced to support Palestine
FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – What’s described as a “large rally” arrived at the UC Merced campus on Wednesday to ask the UC to withdraw investments from Israel “and enterprises of US militarism implicated in the ongoing atrocities perpetrated against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
The group, said to be made up of hundreds of students, faculty, and Bay Area community, is set to rally at the UC Regents meeting, which is also taking place at UC Merced. The UC Board of Regents is meeting on the UC Merced campus until May 16.
Over 100 people were counted at the demonstration on Wednesday, approximately twice as many who were present at the demonstration on Tuesday, reporters told YourCentralValley.com.
UC Merced encampment: What are their demands?
The rally follows a pro-Palestine encampment set up at UC Merced earlier this week. The protest group, UC Merced Gaza Solidarity Encampment led by Students for Justice in Palestine has been posted at UC Merced’s campus since May 12.
We are demanding that the UC Regents heed the call of their students, faculty, and alumni, as they did in 1985 when they made the historic decision to divest from South African apartheid.
Kassem Hamideh, a student at the University of California, Berkeley
UC Alumni for Palestine say they have collected over 13,000 signatures demanding the University of California divest from Israel immediately.
According to the group, Wednesday marks the 76th anniversary of the ‘Nakba’ or “catastrophe” in Arabic.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Jaweed Kaleem
Wed, May 15, 2024
The clocktower in front of the library at Sonoma State University. (Alyssa Archerda / SSU.edu)
The president of Sonoma State University was placed on leave Wednesday, a day after he released a controversial campuswide message on the Israel-Hamas war that said the university would pursue "divestment strategies" and endorsed an academic boycott of Israeli universities.
California State University Chancellor Mildred García announced the decision in a statement posted to the CSU website, saying that Sonoma State President Mike Lee was taken off the job for his "insubordination" in making the statement without "appropriate approvals."
Pro-Palestinian student encampment protesters celebrated when Lee released a letter to the roughly 6,000-student member Rohnert Park campus on Tuesday that met enough of their requests for activists to agree to dismantle their camp by Wednesday evening.
"SSU Demands Met!" said a post on the SSU Students for Justice in Palestine Instagram with the caption "brick by brick, wall by wall" that showed screenshots of Lee's letter.
In his letter, Lee promised to pursue "divestment strategies that include seeking ethical alternatives" in consultation with pro-Palestinian activists and said he supported an academic boycott of Israel.
"SSU will not pursue or engage in any study abroad programs, faculty exchanges, or other formal collaborations that are sponsored by, or represent, the Israeli state academic and research institutions," Lee's Tuesday letter said.
Read more: UC Berkeley to consider divesting from weapons makers as pro-Palestinian protesters break camp
Lee's statement stood out. While other universities have recently said they will look into divesting from weapons companies, including UC Berkeley and UC Riverside, nearly all in the U.S. have rejected calls to target Israel specifically or to boycott formal exchange or research partnerships with Israeli universities.
In rejecting such calls, the universities have cited their support of academic freedom and anti-discrimination policies. Some have also noted that a 2016 state law signed by then Gov. Jerry Brown banned giving state grants or contracts worth more than $100,000 to state universities that targeted Israel in endorsing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
Lee's statement immediately drew criticism from Jewish students, parents and community groups.
Speaking at a Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California conference in Sacramento on Wednesday, California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who serves on the CSU Board of Trustees, slammed campuses for moving forward with agreements to quell protests.
"Each campus is handling these situations in their own way with inconsistencies and frankly, sometimes coming up with agreements that they really don't have the authority to come up with,” said Kounalakis, who spoke before Lee was put on leave.
Read more: Police clear UC Irvine camp, make arrests after protesters occupy science building
Kounalakis, a Democrat, said campuses were “woefully unprepared” for the recent protests.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who made a video appearance at the same Wednesday event to promote his plan to counter antisemitism, said last week that he did "not support divestment."
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) and Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), co-chairs of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, commended García's decision, saying in a statement that Lee's support of an academic boycott "was totally unacceptable and evidence that former President Lee is unfit to lead one of our great state institutions. We look forward to working with Chancellor García and the CSU Trustees to pursue a different path that will promote learning, respectful dialogue, mutual respect, inclusivity, and peace.”
In her letter announcing that Lee would step aside, García said she was "deeply concerned" about his words.
"Our role as educators is to support and uplift all members of the California State University. I want to acknowledge how deeply concerned I am about the impact the statement has had on the Sonoma State community, and how challenging and painful it will be for many of our students and community members to see and read," García said. "The heart and mission of the CSU is to create an inclusive and welcoming place for everyone we serve, not to marginalize one community over another."
In his own letter on his departure, Lee apologized, saying he had "marginalized other members of our student population" and that "I realize the harm that this has caused, and I take full ownership of it. I deeply regret the unintended consequences of my actions."
"I want to be clear: The message was drafted and sent without the approval of, or consultation with, the Chancellor or other system leaders. The points outlined in the message were mine alone, and do not represent the views of my colleagues or the CSU," Lee wrote.
It was unclear how long Lee will be out. He has been on the job for 20 months, about half the time as interim president.
In an interview with The Times, kinesiology professor Lauren Morimoto said she supported Lee.
"As of now, the Academic Senate has not made a statement about Mike Lee's announcement. However, I'm meeting with the Board of the Asian Pacific Islander American Faculty and Staff Association and we stand in solidarity with Mike Lee and the student protesters...," said Morimoto, the former chair of the academic senate. "I will ask to be added to tomorrow's agenda to present a resolution of support for Mike Lee and the student protesters and the demands they were able to negotiate with the university."
Staff writers Colleen Shalby and Mackenzie Mays contributed reporting.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Bay Area university accused of ‘blacklisting Israel’ in striking agreement with protesters
Terisa Estacio
Wed, May 15, 2024
(KRON) — There’s controversy in the North Bay after the president of a Northern California state university put forth an agreement with protesters and members of Students for Justice in Palestine. The school president laying out a detailed plan to look at divestment and ending an exchange program.
But now, a state lawmaker is speaking out, calling the agreement awful.
“This is horrific and wrong, my jaw dropped when I read the letter,” said State Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat.
Oakland restaurant burglarized twice in one day asks community for help
Sen. Wiener is talking about a letter sent out Tuesday evening to the Sonoma State campus community detailing an agreement the state school struck an agreement with students protesting the war in Gaza.
Photo: KRON4.com
More than 19 days ago, protestors set up encampments at Sonoma State. The university president, Mike Lee said he has listened to their demands.
In the letter, Lee said in part:
“None of us should be on the sidelines when human beings are subject to mass killing and destruction. I have said this before and it merits repeating; this is no political, religious or cultural principle that merits the murder of innocent and the one battle we should all be engaged in is the fight for inclusion, respect, and freedom of all people regardless of their background or identity.”
Lee then laid out a series of agreements struck with the protestors, including:
Reviewing the school’s investments
Declaring an academic boycott with Israeli universities
Recognizing a Palestinian curriculum
Calling on a permanent cease-fire in Gaza
“He is basically blacklisting Israel,” Wiener said.
On social media, protesters at Sonoma State applauded the agreement, calling it a win and saying their demands were met. KRON4.com reached out to Sonoma State University and they responded, saying they have received many requests for comment about the president’s letter and will be issuing a statement.
We also reached out to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area. We have not yet heard back.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
UC Berkeley to consider divesting from weapons makers as pro-Palestinian protesters break camp
Jaweed Kaleem, Teresa Watanabe, Hannah Wiley
Tue, May 14, 2024
Pro-Palestinian student protesters at UC Berkeley agreed to remove their encampment. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
Pro-Palestinian protesters at UC Berkeley have removed tents on a central campus plaza in an agreement that appeared to end one of the largest and longest student encampments in the country as Chancellor Carol Christ said she would initiate a discussion about the university's investments in weapons companies and the possible divestment from them.
The move to dismantle the encampment, which swelled to more than 180 tents and hundreds of students at its peak, notably included no police presence or arrests at a time when some universities — including UCLA, USC, Pomona College and Cal Poly Humboldt — have faced immense criticism for using police to clear camps or building takeovers by pro-Palestinian protesters. Ongoing turmoil has racked UCLA since an encampment there came under a violent mob attack two weeks ago.
The Berkeley agreement joins ones at at least four other California universities and several across the country that have forged settlements with activists to end campus encampments that some Jewish students say have included antisemitic signage and chants. While no schools have agreed specifically to divest from ties to Israel — a demand of protesters — each has indicated that it will explore proposals to tighten investment policies regarding companies that sell weapons.
Pro-Palestinian protesters at UC Berkeley said they dismantled their encampment and were going to protest at the UC regents meeting at UC Merced on Wednesday. (Hannah Wiley / Los Angeles Times)
At UC Berkeley, in two letters released Tuesday on the university website, Christ rejected calls for the university to directly target Israel through divestment or cutting ties with Israeli universities. Instead, she said the university would review complaints about discrimination against Palestinians and other groups in academic partnerships such as exchange programs. And the chancellor said she supported examining Berkeley's investments in "a targeted list of companies due to their participation in weapons manufacturing, mass incarceration, and/or surveillance industries."
The letters said that the university would create a task force by the end of June that includes faculty, students and staff to examine whether the investments of the UC Berkeley Foundation, the university’s primary private fundraising arm, "align with our values or should be modified in order to do so."
As of June 30, UC Berkeley's endowment had a total market value of $7.4 billion, with $2.9 billion held by the UC Berkeley Foundation and $4.5 billion held by the University of California regents. Christ said she expected a report on findings by the fall.
She also agreed to push UC regents on divestment. "I will encourage the Chair of the Regents Investment Committee to develop a framework to consider ethical issues concerning investment and any changes in investment strategy. Such a framework should involve broad-based engagement with the community," one letter said.
The chancellor had resisted pressure to forcibly take down the encampment and instead sought to negotiate with protesters. In an interview with The Times last week, she said the Berkeley encampment had been "largely peaceful, very well run," although some of the protest banners had disturbed her.
"I’ve got a long history of Berkeley, and in my experience protests don’t end with police action," Christ said. "They end with negotiations."
Read more: A staggering two weeks at UCLA: Protest, violence, division mark 'dark chapter'
On Tuesday afternoon, a banner displayed across Sproul Hall before campers departed read, "Free Palestine encampment until UC divests. Glory to the martyrs, victory to the resistance."
Students, who staged a rally Tuesday afternoon, read Christ's letters and applauded the chancellor's expression of support for an "immediate and permanent cease-fire" in the Israel-Hamas war.
Activists said their protests are not over.
"We are not declaring victory. We are saying it is time to move on to the next step, to take this campaign, to take this movement, to the office of the regents, to the office of the president, until we win complete divestment," a student leader said.
Divestment "won’t come from Berkeley. It will come from the regents ... deciding and determining that, ‘Yes, we no longer want to have blood on our hands,'" said Banan Abdelrahman, a graduate student and member of the UC Berkeley Divest coalition.
In a statement released Tuesday evening, organizers of the encampment said, "Palestinians have given us the roadmap to liberation, and we will keep treading that path — from Berkeley to Merced all the way to a free Jerusalem in a free Palestine."
Students said they would travel to UC Merced, where protesters from across the state planned to converge at Wednesday's regents meeting.
Speaking at the regents committee meeting Tuesday in Merced, UC Chief Investment Officer Jagdeep Singh Bachher said that more than 18% of UC’s $175 billion in investments is tied to Israel, weapons companies and other holdings targeted by pro-Palestinian divestment activists. He said the funds were indirectly invested, such as through index mutual funds or U.S. Treasury bonds.
Berkeley protesters also encouraged members of the UAW Local 4811 academic workers union to support a strike vote. Results were expected Wednesday night.
The union, which represents 48,000 workers across the 10 University of California campuses, including graduate students who are teaching assistants, has filed unfair labor practice charges against the university system after arrests of pro-Palestinian graduate student protesters at UCLA and the issuing of suspensions and other discipline at UC San Diego and UC Irvine. The union has accused the university of retaliating against student workers and unlawfully changing workplace policies to suppress pro-Palestinian speech.
The dismantling of the UC Berkeley encampment does not end the controversy at the university. The campus for months has been roiled by deep divisions over pro-Palestinian activism, which some members of the Jewish community said has veered into antisemitism.
Read more: 'Please leave!' A Jewish UC Berkeley dean confronts pro-Palestinian activist at his home
The Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council criticized the university for its response.
"The concessions that have come as a result of the encampment have rewarded students for violating university rules and harassing other students, particularly Jewish students," said Jeremy Russell, a spokesman for the council. "It's appalling that the administration was not able to respect the activists' right to free speech and peaceful protest without capitulating to demands and encouraging, even if inadvertently, the violation of their own policies."
In March, the U.S. Department of Education launched a civil rights investigation into UC Berkeley over potential “shared ancestry violations” of Title Vl of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law bans discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin, including harassment based on a shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.
The investigation followed a volatile incident in February when protesters targeted a campus event featuring a controversial Israeli speaker. The protest escalated and UC Berkeley police evacuated the event as demonstrators broke open a door to the building and shattered a window. The university launched its own investigation into the incident. A rescheduled event for the speaker later took place without incident.
The UC Berkeley pro-Palestinian protesters, a coalition of dozens of university groups, set up the camp April 22. It had demanded that the university call for a cease-fire in the war in Gaza, divest from investments in weapons and military companies tied to the war and Israel's occupation of the West Bank, sever ties with Israeli universities and establish a Palestinian Studies program.
The University of California has rejected calls for divestment. In late April, it said in a statement that the university system "has consistently opposed calls for boycott against and divestment from Israel. ... A boycott of this sort impinges on the academic freedom of our students and faculty and the unfettered exchange of ideas on our campuses."
In her Tuesday letters, Christ, who is retiring at the end of June, reiterated the position. "As stated by the University of California Office of the President, divestment from companies on the basis of whether or not they do business with or in Israel is not supported. The sale of direct investments is not within the authority of the Office of the Chancellor but rather lies with the UC regents."
Read more: 'We will not move.' Pro-Palestinian encampments, protests grow at California universities
Also on Tuesday, Harvard University activists who had set up for 20 days in Harvard Yard said they would end their protest. The university did not agree to divestment. It said in a statement that it would "pursue a meeting between encampment participants and the chair of the corporation committee on shareholder responsibility and other university leaders for a discussion regarding students’ questions related to the endowment.”
Harvard also said it would reinstate at least 22 student protesters who had been put on involuntary leaves of absence.
"We are under no illusions: we do not believe these meetings are divestment wins. These side-deals are intended to pacify us away from full disclosure & divestment. Rest assured, they will not,” said a statement from the encampment group, Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine.
The recent agreements between colleges and student protesters in California share similarities in providing official forums for discussion on investments, although some go further on divestment.
UC Riverside Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox signed off May 3 on an agreement to end the encampment at his campus. It was the first such agreement at a UC campus and said that the university would publicly make a "full disclosure" of the companies and size of its investments.
It also said that UC Riverside would form a task force that includes students and faculty to "explore the removal of UCR's endowment from the management of the UC investments office and the investment of said endowment in a manner that will be financially and ethically sound for the university with consideration to the companies involved in arms manufacturing and delivery." The task force would present its findings to the board of trustees by March 21, 2025.
"It has been my goal to resolve this matter peacefully and I am encouraged by this outcome — which was generated through constructive dialogue,” Wilcox said in a statement.
“This agreement does not change the realities of the war in Gaza, or the need to address antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bias and discrimination," Wilcox said. "However, I am grateful that we can have constructive and peaceful conversations on how to address these complex issues.”
A sign on the site of the UC Berkeley encampment signaled protesters' next move. (Hannah Wiley / Los Angeles Times)
Sacramento State
President Luke Wood announced May 8 that the university had agreed with protesters to change its investment policy for its five auxiliaries managed by the university — including a philanthropic and fundraising arm — to focus only on "socially responsible investment strategies which include not having direct investments in corporations and funds that profit from genocide, ethnic cleansing, and activities that violate fundamental human rights." The university also said it did not have direct ties to funds related to the Israeli military.
At Occidental College, a pro-Palestinian encampment came down Friday after an agreement was signed that said the college’s board of trustees would vote by June 6 on whether to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
"Demonstrators agree not to cause or promote substantial disruption of Occidental’s Commencement ceremony on May 19, 2024, which would create safety concerns for attendees, violate any College policies, or require pausing, canceling, or relocating of the event," the agreement said.
On Tuesday, protesters at Sonoma State University agreed to end their encampment after President Mike Lee met several demands, including vowing to create a Palestinian studies curriculum and not pursue academic partnerships that are "sponsored by, or represent, the Israeli state academic and research institutions." Lee said the university would look into "divestment strategies."
Kaleem reported from Los Angeles, Watanabe from Merced and Wiley from Berkeley.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Harvard student protesters reach agreement to end pro-Palestine campus encampment
Josh Marcus
Tue, May 14, 2024
Harvard student protesters reach agreement to end pro-Palestine campus encampment
Student protesters have reached an agreement with Harvard University to end a 20-day pro-Palestine encampment that’s been occupying a central green at the prestigious university.
Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP), the activist coalition which coordinated the encampment as part of its campaign to get the university to cut financial ties with the Israeli military apparatus, announced the deal on Instagram on Tuesday.
“Encampments are a tactic — a big and beautiful one — in a larger strategy of divestment,” the group wrote in a statement. “Here at Harvard, we believe the utility of this tactic has passed, and we have decided to re-group and carry out this protracted struggle through other means.”
“We are under no illusions: we do not believe these meetings are divestment wins,” HOOP added. “These side-deals are intended to pacify us away from full disclosure & divestment.”
Following negotiations with the student activists, the school agreed to reinstate 22 students from involuntary leaves of absence for their participation in the encampment, according to the Harvard Crimson university newspaper.
People walk past the remnants of an encampment of tents in Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass (AP)
The school also offered HOOP a meeting with members of university leadership involved in setting guidance for stock purchases within Harvard’s $50bn endowment.
“There will continue to be deep disagreements and strongly felt emotions as we experience pain and distress over events in the wider world,” Harvard president Alan M Garber wrote in an email Tuesday to Harvard affiliates following the deal. “Now more than ever, it is crucial to do what we do at our best, creating conditions for true dialogue, modeling ways to build understanding, empathy, and trust, and pursuing constructive change anchored in the rights and responsibilities we share.”
This spring, protest encampments have formed at universities across the United States.
University administrations have taken starkly different approaches to engaging with these demonstrations.
Some schools, like Brown University, forged a deal with protesters to end their encampment in exchange for putting forward a vote on Israeli divestment.
Others, like Columbia University, have failed to reach agreements with students, and have instead called riot police to campus to clear out the demonstrators.
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