BU Trustees Committee Rejects Two Petitions Asking the University to Divest from Issues Related to Middle East Conflict
Photo by Ajani Hickling (CAS’27)
BU Trustees Committee Rejects Two Petitions Asking the University to Divest from Issues Related to Middle East Conflict
President Gilliam says she will continue to seek ways for community to “engage with each other on political issues of our day”
The conflict in the Middle East has led to petitions in recent months from various faculty, staff, and student groups asking that Boston University divest its endowment from any funds that might be related to the war, to humanitarian crises, to human rights violations, or to military weapons contractors helping arm Israel.
On Tuesday, the executive committee of BU’s Board of Trustees voted on two such petitions—and in both instances rejected the requests to divest BU’s endowment.
Reacting to the votes against divesting, BU President Melissa L. Gilliam said the decisions by the board bring finality to the issue and that no further petitions on the topic will be considered.
“The endowment is no longer the vehicle for political debate; nevertheless, I will continue to seek ways that members of our community can engage with each other on political issues of our day, including the conflict in the Middle East, with tolerance and respect for one another,” Gilliam said. “Our traditions of free speech and academic freedom are critical to who we are as an institution, and so is our tradition of finding common ground to engage difficult topics while respecting the dignity of every individual.”
Typically, the work of BU’s Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing (ACSRI) takes significant time, and a petition would not come before the board’s executive committee unless the ACSRI had voted in favor of advancing it for further consideration and vote. But because of heightened tensions on campus around the issues related to the ongoing war in the Mideast and for the well-being of the campus community, Gilliam expedited the process on the two petitions for board review.
The issue of divesting its endowment has a complicated history at BU over the past 20 years, prior to Gilliam’s arrival as president in 2024. The University rejected requests to divest from firearms manufacturers, but did agree to divest twice—once on Sudan-linked companies in 2006, and then on fossil fuel extractors in 2022, after repeated calls to react to the increasing threat of climate change.
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