Berkeley (Special to ZennieReport.com from The Graduate Students For Palestine at UC Berkeley) – While Alameda County became the first county in the nation to divest from the Palestinian Genocide last week, the UC Berkeley Foundation chose to rubber-stamp its $15 million holdings in arms manufacturers in a secret vote timed for finals week, according to documents made available through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
Newly released meeting notes show that the UC Berkeley Foundation task force’s trustee majority outvoted student, faculty, and staff representatives 6-4 on whether weapons companies’ involvement in the Palestinian Genocide constitutes a “broadly and consistently held” concern on campus (please see Appendix at end of post).
Even more grotesquely, the UC Berkeley Foundation task force’s trustee majority split 5-5 on whether arms manufacturers are directly causing “social injury” or “violating national or international law” by arming US-Israeli forces, which have slaughtered 300,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023.
Students for Justice in Palestine at UC Berkeley issued the following statement in response:
It is the return of the sun // Of my exiled ones // And for her sake, and his // I swear // I shall not compromise — Samih al-Qasim
We, the Students for Justice in Palestine at UC Berkeley condemn in the strongest possible terms the UC Berkeley Foundation for its secret, cowardly vote last week to block divestment and retain its $15 million holdings in arms companies enabling the Palestinian Genocide — a vote timed to coincide with finals week and students’ departure for winter break.
Let us be unequivocal: this is not merely a financial calculation — it is a deliberate, monstrous decision to silence the screams of the 300,000 Palestinians slaughtered by US-Israeli forces over the past year. The trustees’ choice to continue actively investing $15 million in arms companies is not an abstract issue of institutional neutrality. It is an outright endorsement of the zionist entity’s grotesque design to eradicate the Palestinian people from their land, manifested in its cruelest forms —charring the skin of martyrs like 19-year-old Shaban Dalou, who was burned alive while connected to a hospital IV, and obliterating the bodies of others, like 10-year-old Omar Ashour, whose family has no physical remains to mourn.
Meeting notes released via FOIA requests show that the foundation’s task force was restricted to two criteria: whether the role of arms manufacturers in the Palestinian Genocide constitutes a “broadly and consistently held” concern on campus; and whether these arms manufacturers directly cause “social injury” or “violate national or international law” by arming US-Israeli forces.
The trustee-dominated task force voted down the first item 6-4, narrowly outvoting student, faculty, and staff representatives. This decision flies in the face of the ASUC and GA divestment resolutions, which passed by overwhelming margins; the 3,000-strong mobilization last October which filled Sproul Plaza; months of community pressure at Sather Gate; and last spring’s three-week Free Palestine Encampment, whose hundreds of participants were sustained by broad community support.
Even more unconscionably, trustees deadlocked 5-5 on the second item. Debating the concept of “social injury” and ultimately failing to reach a unanimous decision in the face of 300,000 Palestinian martyrs reveals a truth that we have long understood: to this university, Palestinian lives simply do not matter. We know the university will never account for Palestinian humanity, even as it lauds itself for “challenging convention” or the Free Speech Movement, which it too sought to contain and repress.
Understand this, UC Berkeley:
It is our duty to organize against harmful actions by the institutions which claim to represent us.
However, we are not responsible for the violence of the functionaries who chose to block divestment, and who continue to fill their pockets with the blood of the Palestinian people.
That responsibility, and that shame, is theirs alone. It is the moral responsibility of powerful stakeholders to heed clear, consistent pressure from our community to divest from genocide, apartheid, and colonialism. Before history and the world, they have refused to do so.
We must not be discouraged. The Palestinian people remain steadfast in envisioning themselves on the land of a free Palestine despite every attempt at destruction and desecration. We honor them and the Resistance by heeding their call to stay organized and continue mobilizing.
To the university which has willfully defied the vast majority of its students, who righteously oppose the ongoing US-Israeli genocide in Palestine — know that this will not end the divestment question on campus. It ends only your role in determining how that process plays out. Like every other campus movement for justice and liberation that you derided in its time, only to appropriate later, our struggle will continue, and we will win. We remain steadfast in our commitment to the Palestinian people and Palestinian liberation. For them, we will achieve divestment.
APPENDIX
DIVESTMENT EVALUATION TASK FORCE (DETF) TALKING POINTS FOR DETF MEMBERS
DETF Process and Recommendations
● The UC Berkeley Foundation (UCBF) (https://www.ucberkeleyfoundation.org/), with the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Subcommittee, based on a request1from Chancellor Carol Christ, agreed to appoint a task force to consider divestment from companies that are involved in weapons manufacturing, mass incarceration, and surveillance.
● The Divestment Evaluation Task Force (DETF) was established in alignment with the divestment criteria adopted by the UCBF in 2018. The DETF was composed of ten members – six UCBF trustees, two students, one faculty member, and one staff member. The DETF met six times from August to December 2024.
● The charge of the DETF was to identify companies involved in mass incarceration, surveillance, and weapons manufacturing, and that are a part of the investments managed by the Berkeley Endowment Management Company (BEMCO) (https://www.ucberkeleyfoundation.org/endowment/).
● DETF provided to BEMCO a list of 278 companies in the three target industries, identified through a replicable analysis from the S&P Capital database.
● BEMCO responded with the following data points:
○ BEMCO has NO direct holdings in any of the companies;
○ Indirect holdings include 23 companies held by 4 money managers; three of whom are public, one is private. Twenty-one companies are based in the USA, and two are based in Europe.
○ The holdings represent less than half of one percent (0.005) of the total portfolio–or approximately $15mm in value.
○ There are no holdings in mass incarceration companies, and likely immaterial holdings in surveillance companies.
○ BEMCO is unable to share the list of companies with DETF due to confidentiality agreements with the money managers.
● The DETF chose to evaluate weapons companies as a group against the first three divestment criteria:
○ Half (50%) of the DETF voted that weapons companies cause social injury or violate national or international law.
1 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a7JFo3gliwCzJ14IZB4vz-nr3z8ftYBT/view
○ A minority (40%, with one abstention) of DETF voted that such a view is broadly and consistently held within the campus community.
○ A majority (60%) of DETF voted that divestment would cause deep rifts, and that divestment would not clearly diminish social injury.
● Thus the task force did not find majority support for all the criteria required in order to make a recommendation to divest from any weapons manufacturing companies that are held by managers holding funds for the endowment.
● The DETF prepared and submitted a memo to the ESG subcommittee summarizing its work and made the following recommendations:
○ That the ESG Subcommittee obtain from BEMCO the names of the 23 companies that were not disclosed to DETF, and assess the first three divestment criteria against the individual companies;
○ That the ESG Subcommittee evaluate the companies against criteria 4 and 5 including a consideration of engagement vs. divestment.
○ That the ESG Subcommittee consider the various points of view that were raised in DETF meetings, regardless of the final vote.
Background
● The UCBF established an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) subcommittee2in 2014. The ESG Subcommittee was created to ensure that its investment philosophy is rooted in long-term investing, and incorporates environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and governance factors into the investment evaluation, decision-making, and monitoring processes. BEMCO is dedicated to engaging with managers to advance and monitor their approach to ESG, including investment and management practices and meets regularly with the ESG Subcommittee.
● The ESG principles3 were established in 2016. The divestment guidelines4 were established in 2018. The divestment guidelines specify that any decisions about divestment are ultimately made by the UCBF Board which has the fiduciary responsibility for BEMCO’s investments5. The Foundation’s charge is to maintain and grow real purchasing power of the endowment for future generations while maintaining stability in payout dollars equal or greater than the previous year. Any consideration about divestment is balanced against the UCBF/BEMCO primary objective of optimizing returns to support UC Berkeley over the long-term with a horizon of perpetuity.
2 https://www.ucberkeleyfoundation.org/environmental-social-governance-esg-guidelines/
3https://www.ucberkeleyfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/UCBF-ESG-Principles_Board-Approved-May-2016_FINAL.pdf
4 https://www.ucberkeleyfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/Divestment-Guidelines_May-2018_FINAL.pdf 5 https://www.ucberkeleyfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/IPS_190517-1.pdf