Pro-Palestinian protests disrupt colleges across the US: Live updates

7:06 a.m. ET, April 30, 2024

Campus protesters are calling for divestment. It’s happened before

By CNN’s Samantha Delouya

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College campuses across the United States have been roiled by pro-Palestinian protests this month, with nearly all demonstrations calling for universities to divest from Israel in some form. So far, universities have refused to yield to those demands.

What would divestment look like?

Put most simply, divestment is the opposite of investment.

Many universities have an endowment, which is donated funds generally invested in stocks, bonds and other financial instruments to help the university earn money.

At Columbia, a group of students want the college to divest its $13.6 billion endowment from any company linked to Israel, including Microsoft and Amazon. Protesters at other schools, such as Cornell and Yale, want their universities to stop investing in weapons manufacturers.

What are university officials saying?

On Monday, Columbia’s administration reiterated that it would not divest from Israel. Last week, the University of California also said divestment wouldn’t happen.

But some colleges are willing to talk with protesters.

Christina Paxson, president of Brown University, sent a letter to demonstrators saying she would agree to hear a divestment proposal if the school’s encampment were disbanded, according to the student-run newspaper, the Brown Daily Herald.

They’ve been here before.

Columbia students protesting South Africa’s apartheid racial segregation policy in the 1980s called on the school to severe its financial ties with companies doing business in the country.

Columbia eventually voted to sell the majority of its stock in South Africa-connected companies. Other colleges followed suit.

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