9mo ago

Brown University agrees to hold Israel divestment vote after pressure from student protesters

www.thehill.com Brown University agrees to hold Israel divestment vote after pressure from student protesters

Brown University’s corporate board will vote on a proposal to divest from Israeli interests, the university announced Tuesday, a major victory for student protesters who have taken over dozens of c…

20 comments

"protests don't do anything"
"the protests are violent and racist"
Yada Yada yada
- Yup. Protests are clearly effective. One thing about the point of violence- if you’re at a protest and you hear threats or see violence, speak up or leave. With the new ruling by SCOTUS, one bad actor can have the entire protest charged with criminal behavior. Stay safe. Protect yourselves and one another.
  
  which is why they are more prone than ever at being infiltrated by provocateurs
  
  With the new bullshit ruling by SCOTUS
  FTFY
  
  I thought this was only in a few states (5th circuit) and the SCOTUS refused to hear the case?
  Still bullshit don't get me wrong
  Just trying to set the record straight

Cost of Attendance, Undergraduate, Brown University: Full Time Off-Campus. $71,412
Yet, they have billions in investment funds.
I'm 110% in favor of higher education, but not at schools that are run like an exploitation racket. Even state schools, that receive loads of Federal funding, are exploiting students financially. It's insane that it has gotten this bad. Soon, the upper class will be the only ones who will be able to afford an education. In light of everything else, that almost feels intentional.
Apologies for the slight digression here, but institutes of higher education that are overflowing with cash make me see red. You're a school, that's not how any of this is supposed to work.
- It is intentional. An educated populace knows when they're getting fucked by the upper class. An uneducated populace believe when they're told giving more money to the rich generates jobs or pleases god.
- Brown also owns a large portion of the nicer parts of providence. They’ve been around since the 1700s so that’s how they got so much property and money in the first place. I agree with almost everything you said except the fact that it’s an Ivy League and they’re specifically meant to be prohibitively expensive so you have to be rich or brilliant enough to get a scholarship there. My girlfriend got a full scholarship for Harvard from her government and it is not easy for anyone who doesn’t have money, even with a full scholarship.
  If we were talking about the state schools charging close to as much as Harvard and Brown, then I’d fully agree with you.

Definitely a victory for the protestors. I'm a bit disappointed that they're agreeing to hear arguments and vote on the issue in October, rather than committing to anything or taking any action in the next 6 months. Still, props to the school for listening to the students.

That's encouraging. Just when I thought nothing would come of the protests. Now to see if the vote actually pass a motion to divest.

wow, a major institution with a back bone. dont see that much now-a-days.
- No backbone, they just got caught red-handed and even now are trying to weasel out by setting the voting date 6 months from now. They're hoping the media attention would have died out by then.

Progress!

Does selling their stock really do anything? All the big investment firms will still buy these up for their mutual funds. Unless everyone agrees not to buy their stock, I don’t see how this helps. And even then, their stock would be so cheap they could just buy it back themselves and go private right?
- Does selling their stock really do anything? All the big investment firms will still buy these up for their mutual funds. Unless everyone agrees not to buy their stock, I don’t see how this helps. And even then, their stock would be so cheap they could just buy it back themselves and go private right?
  Its what forced South Africa to break up their apartheid state. Yeah, it really actually works and its one of the only things that has historically been demonstrated to work.
- Green is the only thing capitalists see and will respond to. Good number going down is the only truly bad thing in their world.

I thought the whole reason universities had their hands tied were the anti-BDS law. Maybe Brown is in a state (RI) where it won't lose state funding, but losing federal funding would be a blow to the research orgs.

20 comments