Liz Jackson's Op-Ed in the Brown Daily Herald on Brown Divestment

Last December, the Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility at Brown voted to divest from companies complicit in violations of Palestinian human rights. This followed a student referendum that from Brown University Divest passed by an overwhelming margin in March. The university's president refuses to honor these calls.

Senior staff attorney Liz Jackson published an op-ed in the Brown Daily Herald telling her alma mater that it must divest from Israel's abuse of Palestinian human rights:

“Every day that our tuition and alumni donation dollars remain invested in companies profiting from occupation is a day we inflict severe harm on Palestinians, including Palestinian students at Brown.

Every day we remain invested, we are responsible for ongoing land theft, military violence and discrimination. We restrict the ability of Palestinian students to receive an equal education at Brown by investing in companies that oppress their families. We preserve a status quo of violence, settler colonialism and racism that is intolerable to many students and constituencies on campus.

President Paxson swatted down the student divestment vote last March by arguing that “Brown’s endowment is not a political instrument” and “should not be used to take sides on contested geopolitical issues.” This is an absurd justification. To remain invested in human rights abuses, especially after ACCRIP has recognized the harms these corporations are committing, is to explicitly give our approval and “take a side.” That is not apolitical, or neutral.”

Read the full op-ed here.