Student protests over the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas have brought large numbers of police in riot gear to college campuses, angered some billionaire donors and led to the cancellation of graduation ceremonies.
One issue that keeps popping up in these protests is calls for university endowments to divest from Israel and the many American companies doing business in Israel.Technology companies such as Google and Amazon and defense contractors, e.g. boeing company and Lockheed Corporation It’s all on that list.
“These donations are notoriously opaque,” said Allison Taylor, a clinical associate professor at NYU Stern School of Business. “So there’s often no public information about what happens to these funds. In fact, that’s one of the student requests.” “
However, putting divestment into practice is a difficult task. Some universities, such as the University of California, Berkeley, have agreed to review their investments. However, many universities have ignored calls to divest from Israel or companies doing business in Israel.
“Universities are reluctant to divest on any issue because it could reduce returns on their endowments and thus impact their ability to meet the needs of future students,” said Witold Hönitz, a management professor at Penn’s Wharton School. “If we introduce greater risk or lower returns into the endowment, then there will be less money available to pay for … tuition assistance and to pay for the operating expenses of the university for students who may not even be born yet.”
Watch the video above to learn more about the practical effects of divestment from Israel and companies doing business there, and how it will affect the tens of billions of dollars in university endowments.
