24 states gear up for ‘high-profile fight’ with Brown University over Israel divestment vote

Some states have begun reviewing pension investment and contracts “to determine if Brown has already violated state law” by agreeing to allow the October vote, the attorneys general from Arkansas, Florida, Texas and other states told the university’s trustees in a letter Monday. Approving the measure would have “immediate and profound legal consequences,” they said. 

“Adopting that proposal may require our states — and others — to terminate any existing relationships with Brown and those associated with it, divest from any university debt held by state pension plans and other investment vehicles, and otherwise refrain from engaging with Brown,” said the group of Republican attorneys general, which was led by Tim Griffin of Arkansas. 

The warning underscores the stakes for the Ivy League school, which agreed to consider the demands of pro-Palestinian student activists as part of a deal to clear a protest encampment earlier this year. While school leadership has opposed politicizing the management of Brown’s more than $6 billion endowment, the university said it would weigh the proposal after a committee makes a recommendation by the end of September.

Brown declined to comment. 

Colleges across the US have been roiled since Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the Jewish state’s retaliation in Gaza. Three Ivy League presidents have resigned and universities have faced allegations of tolerating antisemitism. Several have also been accused of suppressing the speech of pro-Palestinian students and criticized for sending in police to clear protesters.

The vote at Brown is scheduled for an October meeting of the 54-member board of trustees, which is led by Brian Moynihan, chief executive officer of Bank of America Corp.

Ben & Jerry’s

While the extent of the 24 states’ financial ties to Brown is unclear, their willingness to flex their financial power harks back to a high-profile dispute involving Unilever Plc and its Ben & Jerry’s ice cream brand. 

In 2021, a group of attorneys general took on the consumer-goods company over the refusal by Ben & Jerry’s to sell ice cream in the West Bank. Under pressure as states including New York announced plans to sell the Unilever shares in their state pension funds, the company ultimately overrode the boycott effort. 

That controversy offers an important example for Brown, said David Webber, a law professor at Boston University who advised the campaign to reverse the Ben & Jerry’s Israel boycott.

“It shows that these attorneys general are not bluffing,” Webber said. “I frankly think they would welcome a high-profile fight with Brown.”

One potential point of leverage for state officials is Brown’s Choices Program, a curriculum about history and current events, which according to the school has a presence in all 50 states and 1 million students worldwide. 

An initiative of Brown’s history department, the program is sold to school districts and for use with professional development workshops. A contract between the university and the Milwaukee public school system, for example, shows a rate of almost $3,000 per month. 

The Choices Program is scheduled to present its curriculum in October at a conference in Georgia, one of the states that signed this week’s letter to Brown. 

Many university administrators and lawmakers have for years rejected the so-called Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, or BDS, movement against Israel, viewing it as antisemitic because it calls into question the legitimacy of the Jewish state and singles out the policies of one country.

States across the US have passed laws that prohibit discrimination against Israel. In Arkansas, for example, the state can’t enter contracts valued at more than $1,000 with a company unless the contract includes a written certification that the person or company isn’t engaged with a boycott of Israel — a law that was upheld by a federal appeals court.

Rhode Island, where Brown is based, has its own anti-BDS law on the books. But it wouldn’t apply to Brown since it’s a private university and doesn’t receive enough public money to be impactful, said Mia Ackerman, a state lawmaker who introduced the legislation. She said she planned to research legislation that would encompass private entities.

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