The Resource section of Brown University’s Jewish Alumni website includes letters and memos in support of why not to divest. These resources can help inform other school’s efforts to counter BDS campaigns on their campus. It must be noted that the official response by the University in voting against divestment is not described as a show of support for Israel or an acknowledgement that the BDS perspective is problematic in any way.
Brown University’s Official News Coverage
The following text pulls from the university’s official news coverage on the divestment campaign and Corporation vote. It is worth noting that the primary emphasis seems to be on how very little is actually invested in Israeli companies, with a lesser, secondary reference to a wish to avoid setting a precedent with any type of divestment effort. The only reference in the news article to Israel is in the first paragraph, identifying it from the perspective of the BDS-supporters: “student-led divestment proposal as facilitating ‘the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territory.'”
On October 8, 2024, the Brown University Corporation voted against divestment from 10 companies targeted by a student-led divestment proposal. The Corporation of Brown University voted, instead, to support a recommendation from Brown’s Advisory Committee on University Resources Management (ACURM) against divestment.
“In particular, Corporation members noted ACURM’s finding that Brown’s exposure to the 10 companies identified in the divestment proposal is de minimis, that Brown has no direct investments in any of the companies targeted for divestment and that any indirect exposure for Brown in these companies is so small that it could not be directly responsible for social harm, as defined in ACURM’s charge,” they wrote in an Oct. 9 letter to the Brown campus. “These findings alone are sufficient reason to support ACURM’s recommendation.”
University Chancellor Brian T. Moynihan and President Christina H. Paxson said the Corporation also focused on the fact that divestment would have a significant impact on the ability of Brown to fulfill its mission to discover, communicate and preserve knowledge.
“Brown’s mission doesn’t encompass resolving or adjudicating global conflict…” they wrote. “Our greatest contribution to the cause of peace for which so many members of the community have advocated is to continue to educate future leaders and produce scholarship that informs and supports their work. A decision to divest would greatly jeopardize our ability to continue to make this contribution. If the Corporation were to divest, it would signal to our students and scholars that there are ‘approved’ points of view to which members of the community are expected to conform. This would be wholly inconsistent with the principles of academic freedom and free inquiry, and would undermine our mission of serving the community, the nation and the world.”