“Divestment boycotts are a bad thing”: Cornell University professor Todd Ely says “investing in companies that make fossil fuels”

Some protesters are targeting companies that make defense-related products. Cornell University protesters are calling for divestments from companies including Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

The students at Columbia and many other universities in the 70s and 80s pressed administrators to sell off their investments in companies doing business with South Africa, because of the country’s apartheid policies.

Students have successfully called on universities to stop investing in companies that promote fossil fuels, including at Syracuse University.

Prof. Todd Ely said thatDivestment doesn’t really affect the companies or the industries being targeted “It’s more the stigma created and drawing attention to the issue more broadly.”

“While the University affirms the right of our community members to express diverse viewpoints, a boycott of this sort impinges on the academic freedom of our students and faculty and the unfettered exchange of ideas on our campuses” the university said last week.

Endowments have become a major source of financing for universities. Investments and scholarships are allowed while securing the financial future of the university.

Some endowment chiefs have even become well known figures in finance, including the late David Swensen who served as Yale’s chief investment officer and grew the university’s funds massively.

Endowments “are intended to kind of preserve and grow the resources available to colleges and universities. And the number one use of those funds is to support students and student financial aid,” says Prof. Ely. “So it’s a complex situation where calls to change the way these funds are invested by students and other interested parties do end up kind of in a circular way going back to support the students themselves.”

The Collision between a Pro-Palestinian Camp and a University Student Union in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday morning

The confrontation quickly became a flashpoint among dozens of university protests against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza that have broken out on campuses across the U.S. Police entered the school building occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University to shut down a high-profile protest.

Protesters and counter protesters fought at times in the tent camp, with witnesses saying ranged from 100 to more than 200. The protesters set off fireworks, and journalists say pepper spray or other irritant were used before police could get the situation under control.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a post that the violence at UCLA was “appalling and inexcusable”. LAPD has arrived.

But media reports from the campus describe an hours-long delay between the first clashes erupting and police intervening. Student newspaper the Daily Bruin accused the school of failing to protect students on its campus.

The groups were dispersed after the police arrived at the campus, according to local TV station ABC 7.

There have been reports that universities are taking action against the pro-Palestinian camps on college campuses.

Police moved against a pro-Palestinian encampment in Madison shortly after 7 a.m. local time Wednesday morning, resulting in at least 12 arrests and several injuries.

A student showed reporters a gash he said came from being stuck by a police shield, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. Campus police say four officers were hurt, including a state trooper who was hit in the head by a protester’s skateboard.

Protesters set up at least 15 tents two hours later. Leaders of the demonstration held trainings on how to resist further arrests and made plans for a march and rally for Wednesday afternoon,” WPR reports.

On the last day of classes for most students, campus, city and state police officers converged on an encampment — an operation that student newspaper The Tulane Hullabaloo says began before dawn on Wednesday.

Fourteen protesters, including two students, were arrested. The school made six arrests on Monday and said it had suspended at least seven students for participating in what it said was an “unlawful demonstration.”

The Daily Bruin reported that members of the group were wrestling with protesters inside and on the private campus of UCLA.

The clash erupted days after the Israeli-American Council, an advocacy group, mounted a competing demonstration on Dickson Plaza, adjacent to the encampment. Despite heightened tensions, that large rally on April 28 ended without major clashes.

“We went in and conducted an operation to allow Columbia University to remove those who have turned the peaceful protest into a place where anti-Semitism and anti-Israel attitudes were pervasive,” Adams said.

He also reiterated that his administration believes many of the protests are led by “outside agitators” who are not students or otherwise a part of the college community. Adams said that the police are still looking through records to figure out how many of the arrested demonstrators were not associated with the university.