EDITORS' CORNER
Endowment should not be used to address global events, school says
Smith College in Massachusetts rejected a proposal from pro-Palestinian campus groups to divest from Israel this month.
The school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and Smith Alums for Justice in Palestine offered the proposal “in exchange for ending an illegal ‘People’s University’ encampment established during the final weeks of the academic year,” according to The Algemeiner.
The groups accused Israel of committing a “femi-genocide” and engaging in “widespread sexual and reproductive violence” in their proposal.
“The deliberate and disproportionate targeting of women represents an egregious practice of racialized gender violence intended, in large part, to prevent the reproduction of a population marked for extermination,” the proposal states.
“This obligates our esteemed institution to evaluate its support of companies and entities that profit from and execute imperialist gender violence,” it states.
The students urged the school “to adopt an ethical investment policy that formally excludes weapons companies, military contractors, and other corporations involved in state violence and human rights violations.”
In its response posted to the school’s website, the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility rejected the proposal, stating the endowment should not be used to address global events outside the college’s core mission and daily operations.
Responding to the proposal’s assertion that the school can shape market demands through its investments, “ACIR expressed skepticism.”
Smith College’s endowment is “not large enough … to influence demand in any noticeable way” and the proposal “would not measurably affect positive social change,” the committee stated.
The ACIR also pointed to serious concerns about the significant financial risks of the proposal.
“Implementing categorical, non-standard restrictions on individual businesses as proposed would force the college to exit premier, diversified commingled funds. It would also impair the Investment Office’s ability to retain top-tier asset managers, a direct conflict with the board’s legal obligations to steward the financial health of the endowment in perpetuity,” the committee stated.
The committee added that the school “already invests with an ethical perspective when selecting fund managers,” and will work to communicate that better.
In April, SJP had set up an unauthorized week-long protest encampment on campus over the college’s refusal to divest from companies linked to Israel. In return for ending the encampment, the college agreed to hold a meeting with SJP and top officials before the semester ended, according to The Algemeiner.
This led to the school’s second rejection of the students’ proposal.
Beyond the divestment debate, the private, women-only college is currently under investigation for admitting trans-identifying students, The College Fix previously reported.
The U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation into the school in response to a complaint alleging discrimination on “the basis of sex by admitting males who identify as women.”
“An all-women’s college loses all meaning if it is admitting biological males,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey stated in a news release.
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