The Corporation of Brown University, the institution’s highest governing body, rejected a proposal Tuesday to divest from 10 companies and weapons manufacturers that do business with Israel.
Two of Brown’s top leaders — Brian Moynihan, the governing board’s leader, and Christina Paxson, the university’s president — supported the decision in a statement Wednesday.
“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,” they said. “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. ”
The vote deals a major blow to the student-run Brown Divest Coalition, which organized a pro-Palestinian encampment during the spring semester. The coalition called for the university to divest from companies it describes as “enabling and profiting from the genocide in Gaza and the broader Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.”
Brown leaders struck a deal with the coalition members in the spring, allowing them to meet with the governing board in exchange for clearing the encampment. The coalition also presented its case last month before the Advisory Committee on University Resources Management.
The decision itself to vote on divestment proved controversial. One governing board member, Joseph Edelman, resigned ahead of the vote, publicly calling it a “capitulation to the very hatred that led to the Holocaust and the unspeakable horrors of Oct. 7.”
Tuesday’s governing board vote rejecting the divestment proposal is in line with the recommendation from the advisory committee, which estimated that investments in the 10 companies make up less than 1% of the value of the university’s endowment. It also found that Brown does not hold direct investments in any of the 10 companies, though it does have indirect investments through funds managed by third parties.
The advisory committee concluded that the investments were small and therefore are not responsible for social harm.
The governing board considered these and other findings from the advisory committee, Moynihan and Paxson said.
“The Corporation also discussed the broader issue of whether taking a stance on a geopolitical issue through divestment is consistent with Brown’s mission of education and scholarship,” they said. “The Corporation reaffirmed that Brown’s mission is to discover, communicate and preserve knowledge. It is not to adjudicate or resolve global conflicts.”
On Instagram, the Brown Divest Coalition responded angrily to the decision by posting an image of the officials’ public message overlaid with an expletive-filled statement in bold red script.
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