UC Riverside among campuses reaching agreements with protesters to discuss investments
UC Riverside struck a deal to bring more transparency to its investments in return for pro-Palestinian protesters to clear out their encampment, media reported late Friday. The deal appears to go against the policy of the 10-campus UC system which last week said it opposes “calls for boycott against and divestment from Israel,” The Associated Press reported.
While protesters have been demanding an end to investments related to Israel and armaments, the latest negotiations show that the issue is being considered by some universities as a way to end protests as colleges come into their graduation season. UC Riverside joins a small group of campuses nationwide including Brown, Northwestern and Rutgers that came to agreements with protesters to discuss the investment issue, according to AP and The New York Times. A deal by Brown University to hold a board vote on cutting investments tied to Israel led a major donor, the billionaire real estate mogul Barry Sternlicht to announce that he had paused his donations, which have totaled more than $20 million.
UC Riverside agreed to disclose all public information on UC’s investments on the Riverside campus website and keep adding to the information with the goal of a full disclosure of companies and investment amounts. Riverside agreed to form a task force “to explore the removal of UCR’s endowment from the management of the UC Investments Office” and to invest the 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 aims to report to Riverside’s board of trustees by the end of winter quarter 2025.
The AP also reported that faculty at Pomona College in California voted in favor of divesting from companies they said are funding Israel’s war in Gaza, a group of faculty and students said Friday. While the vote is not binding, supporters said it aims to encourage the board to stop investing in those companies and disclose its investments.
“Our students, faculty, staff and alumni hold a wide range of viewpoints. This nonbinding faculty statement does not represent any official position of Pomona College,” the liberal arts school of nearly 1,800 in Claremont said in a statement to EdSource. “We will continue to encourage further dialogue within our community, including consideration of counterarguments.