VOA教育报道2024--Protesters Want to Influence College Investment Policy

Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City; the University of California, Berkeley; Brown University in Rhode Island and others are calling on their leaders to divest¹ from Israel.

That means the students want their universities to sell any investments in Israeli businesses. Students have also started to ask their universities to divest from any U.S. company that does business in Israel. That includes companies that produce weapons and aircraft that can be used in war, such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin. In addition, some protesters say schools should end investments in technology companies such as Google and Airbnb that do business in Israel.

For weeks, protesters have been calling for the war between Hamas and Israel to end. The war started in 2023 after Hamas fighters invaded Israel and killed about 1200 people and took hostages. Israel's military fight against Hamas has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, Hamas' health ministry² said.

Protesters began calling for divestment from Israel in the months following the start of the war. At Columbia, a group calling itself Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) published demands. CUAD has demanded that the university: "Divest all of Columbia's finances, including the endowment, from companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation in Palestine. Ensure accountability by increasing transparency around financial investments."

An endowment is a special organization that invests money for the school that creates it. The people who work for it have a legal responsibility to invest the money wisely. The gains are supposed to pay for improvements to the school grounds, new buildings and to provide financial aid for students.

Effects of recent divestment calls

Some universities are agreeing to consider changing the way they invest money in their endowments. Others are not.

On April 30 at Brown, leaders said they would discuss and vote on selling investments related to Israel's fighting in Gaza if the protesters left their encampment. The protesters agreed.

One student group at Brown, the Brown Divest Coalition³, posted a message on Instagram celebrating the deal:

"This would not have been possible without the hard work of university encampments across the country whose collective power has forced university administrators⁴ to acknowledge the overwhelming support for Palestine..."

At the University of California, Berkeley, the BDS Coalition demanded: "The total divestment of the UC Berkeley Foundation and the UC General Endowment Pool from the Israeli state and from all companies profiting from the colonization⁵ of Palestine."

But on April 26, the University of California said it would not change its investments. A statement said: "The University of California has consistently opposed calls for boycott⁶ against and divestment from Israel..."

At Columbia, the place that many see as the starting point of the protests that spread across the U.S., the university offered to talk with protesters. Columbia said it would publish a list of the school's direct investments and increase how often the list is updated. The school's investing committee said it would consider proposals from students.

Past success from divestment

Students involved in recent protests point to similar calls for divestment from South Africa that started in the 1980s. At the time, South Africa was a segregated⁷ country living under what was known as apartheid. Civil rights activists⁸ point to economic pressure around the world, some of which came from universities, as a main reason for the end of the policy in the 1990s.

But some business and education experts note that university endowments are more sophisticated than they were back then.

The Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics reported that the combined market value of the 20 largest U.S. university endowments totaled more than $927 billion at the end of 2021.

Is divestment possible?

Much of the money in endowments is overseen⁹ by financial professionals who have permission to buy and sell stocks or groups of stocks.

Because of this, it can be difficult to identify a school's involvement with a company. Georges Dyer is executive director and cofounder of the Intentional¹⁰ Endowments Network.

"It's not as simple as some people think - maybe it's just selling some stocks at a certain company," Dyer said.

Financial experts also note that a small number of universities removing their investments in a few large companies such as Boeing or Microsoft will not make much difference.

Todd Ely is an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado, Denver. He said some schools likely have employed financial companies to supervise their investments and "colleges and universities have fairly limited discretion¹¹ in the actual...investments."

Will calls for divestment end the war?

Dany Bahar and Natan Sachs of the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. have done research on divestment. They noted¹² that divestment movements have had little effect on the Israeli economy.

In their writing, they note that only official restrictions¹³, or sanctions, by the United States, would produce economic pressure to change Israeli policy. But that is not likely to happen because of U.S. support for Israel.

Just on Thursday, President Joe Biden talked about his support for the protesters' right to express themselves, but said the U.S. does not plan to end its support for Israel's fight against Hamas.

Words in This Story

divest -v. to sell things of value for a reason

endowment -n. a legal structure designed to supervise and grow things of value for the gain of the group or organization that organized it or for a cause

apartheid -n. a system of keeping one group of people separate from another

transparency -n. the idea that things should be open and clear to everyone

consistently -adv. to take place most of the time, regularly

sophisticated -adj. complex and involving much specialized¹⁴ knowledge

discretion -n. the ability to choose some course of action rather than have it decided by a rule or requirement that already exists

1 divest   

v.脱去，剥除

参考例句：

• I cannot divest myself of the idea.我无法消除那个念头。
• He attempted to divest himself of all responsibilities for the decision.他力图摆脱掉作出该项决定的一切责任。

2 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

3 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

4 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

5 colonization   

殖民地的开拓，殖民，殖民地化； 移殖

参考例句：

• Colonization took place during the Habsburg dynasty. 开拓殖民地在哈布斯堡王朝就进行过。
• These countries took part in the colonization of Africa. 这些国家参与非洲殖民地的开发。

6 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

7 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。

8 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 overseen   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was overseen stealing the letters. 他被人撞见在偷信件。 来自辞典例句
• It will be overseen by ThomasLi, director of IBM China Research Laboratory. 该实验室由IBM中国研究院院长李实恭(ThomasLi)引导。 来自互联网

10 intentional   

adj.故意的，有意（识）的

参考例句：

• Let me assure you that it was not intentional.我向你保证那不是故意的。
• His insult was intentional.他的侮辱是有意的。

11 discretion   

n.谨慎；随意处理

参考例句：

• You must show discretion in choosing your friend.你择友时必须慎重。
• Please use your best discretion to handle the matter.请慎重处理此事。

12 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

13 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

14 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。