Activists say financially supporting Israel makes their schools complicit in the war in Gaza. Experts argue it's not that simple.Divestment usually refers to selling shares in companies doing business with a given country. Divestment has long been a goal of a movement that seeks to limit what it considers hostile operations by Israel and an end to expanding what the United Nations has ruled are illegal settlements.
Whatever the case, while some of the shares Columbia owns may be directly held stock investments, other assets are likely held indirectly through investment instruments like mutual funds or exchange-traded funds that are designed to expose investors to a variety of firms. targeting their school’s alleged Israel-tied investments, excluding specific investments from these indirect stock holding products “would be logistically challenging.
Columbia’s Investment Management Company, which oversees the school’s market assets, does have an advisory committee on socially responsible investing. Sylvia Burwell, the president of American University in Washington, D.C., said a student vote calling for divestment did not represent the school and would not be recognized.