COMMENTARY: Ending their war on our world
We are the Endowment Justice Collective, a coalition of Rutgers students, workers, faculty, alumni and community members across the three campuses committed to confronting our University's unethical investments.
Today, Rutgers' endowment fund is invested in index funds like PQBMX, whose holdings directly contribute to Israel's settler-colonialism, apartheid and genocide of Palestinians. We call on our University to reimagine an endowment fund free of investments in global injustice, one that can bring improvement to our community and beyond.
In February 2020, we submitted our first divestment request to Rutgers' Joint Committee on Investments (JCOI). This request exposed the University's endowment investments in fossil fuels, the military-industrial complex, the prison industrial complex, sweatshop labor and Israeli apartheid. While the JCOI accepted our call to divest from fossil fuels, it dismissed our other concerns as insignificant.
We find ourselves at a crucial moment for the Palestinian liberation movement, which demands urgent action at individual, community and institutional levels. Thus, our work continues with our present call for the University to divest from Israeli apartheid.
By persisting in this cause, we join a legacy of efforts advocating for an ethical endowment fund at Rutgers.
In 1985, the Rutgers Coalition for Total Divestment (RCTD) demanded that the University's endowment fund be divested from South African apartheid. Shortly after, the University reacted to the group's advocacy in accordance with the ethical values proclaimed and expected by the Rutgers community.
Today, as we find the University endowment to be invested in apartheid crimes against Palestinians, we are pressed to make the same demands as RCTD did in 1985: Our endowment fund must be invested ethically, in the way of progress, not human rights abuses and not destruction.
It is incumbent upon us as the Rutgers community to demand accountability from the JCOI. After all, how can we be expected to attend and contribute to a University with the knowledge that its finances actively condone crimes against humanity?
We recognize the need for Rutgers to act as a progressive force for justice today, as it did in 1985 by divesting from South African apartheid.
Our University is presented with a choice: to stand against the ongoing injustices that have been waged against the Palestinian people for more than 75 years or to remain willingly complicit. We, the Endowment Justice Collective, say no more!
The Endowment Justice Collective is a student-led coalition of Rutgers students, faculty and community organizations advocating for an ethical University endowment fund.
*Columns, cartoons and letters do not necessarily reflect the views of the Targum Publishing Company or its staff.
YOUR VOICE | The Daily Targum welcomes submissions from all readers. Guest columns and commentaries must be between 600 and 900 words. All authors must include their name, phone number, class year and college affiliation or department to be considered for publication. Please submit via email to oped@dailytargum.com by 4 p.m. to be considered for the following day's publication. Columns, cartoons and letters do not necessarily reflect the views of the Targum Publishing Company or its staff.
