On Calls for Divestment
Dear Beach Community:
As the conflict in the Middle East continues, our collective frustration, sadness, and pain deepen with each passing day. No matter your ethnicity, religion, or national origin, this war is a tragedy in our collective history.
For some here in the U.S. over these past many months, this anger and grief has turned into calls for American institutions to disengage with corporations involved in military technology, equipment, and armaments.
Some discourse around proposed financial divestment has been fraught with misinformation. Our investments of donor dollars are not political instruments in complex social and political issues over which there is significant disagreement and deep historical undercurrents. That said, this past spring, we developed this informational statement about our holdings, which we reaffirm today:
The university’s investments are held and managed by the CSU system, which does not purchase individual corporate stocks or equities as part of investment programs. Instead, its assets take the form of mutual funds, bonds, and other financial instruments. Additional invested assets are held by legally independent auxiliaries, which are institutionally affiliated support organizations. Among these organizations is the 49er Foundation, which manages the university’s endowment. Like CSU investments, these assets consist of blended funds and not individually held corporate stocks. Many efforts have been made to ensure an environmentally and socially responsible approach to investing that is consistent with university values. All investments are for the express purpose of supporting Beach students.
Other divestment demands have focused on colleges and universities ending certain travel abroad, internships, and prospective-employee outreach programs by employers. Curtailing these efforts would be antithetical to our role as an institution of higher education and our commitment to student success.
This institution has confronted and interrogated many troubling global issues in the past, but it does not play a direct role in contested geopolitical divides.
Instead, the university remains an active forum for discourse and perspective-sharing, not a participant itself.
The most constructive focus for our university community is recommitting to fostering a compassionate campus environment where all members feel respected, valued, and empowered.
Jane Close Conoley, Ph.D.
President
