'Divest now': Students comment on U. investments at Board of Governors meeting

On Monday, the Rutgers Board of Governors convened at Winants Hall on the College Avenue campus to vote on Rutgers—Newark's interim chancellor, induct new members to the Board and share committee reports.

Members of the Endowment Justice Collective and Students for Justice in Palestine at Rutgers—New Brunswick also attended and spoke at the meeting.

The Board began its open session at approximately 12:10 p.m. and announced conflicts of interest within the Board before pausing for a closed session.

Approximately 1 hour later, the session reopened to the public. William Best, the Board's chair, started the session with the initiation of two new Board members, Amy Towers and Gary Taffet, who were selected by Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.).

After both members were sworn in, University President Jonathan Holloway shared a review of the budget, as well as University-wide achievements he presented at the University Senate meeting on Friday.

The Board then yielded to speakers unaffiliated with the body who signed up in advance to give comments.

One speaker, Luke Spaltro, a School of Arts and Sciences senior, discussed the University's involvement in the Public Service Electric and Gas Company's Clean Energy Future Program in relation to the Israel-Hamas War.

Spaltro discussed the findings of a study from January, which found that the war's first two months were estimated to produce more carbon dioxide emissions than 20 nations individually. They also referenced the University's ties with Israel, including a recent partnership with Tel Aviv University.

Spaltro additionally discussed the University's divestment from apartheid South Africa in 1985.

"I ask of you, Board of Governors, as well as President Holloway, as a fellow historian, which side of history will you stand on? Will you stand for the oppressor or the oppressed?" Spaltro said. "The only justified thing to do is to divest now. (The University of Michigan) and (University of California, Davis) have already done so. Now, it is time for Rutgers."

Pat Kinley, a Robert Wood Johnson Medical School graduate fellow and Ph.D. student in the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality, said graduate workers were not receiving sufficient stipends from the University and also referenced their own position in favor of Palestine.

The meeting also saw updates from each of the Board's committees, including a vote that confirmed Jeffrey Robinson as the Newark campus's interim chancellor, effective July 1. Robinson will take on the role after Nancy Cantor, whose tenure ends June 30 after her nonrenewal in August 2023, as previously reported by The Daily Targum.

Adrienne Simonds, the Senate's chair, also shared a report on a recently signed University Senate resolution related to doxxing.

The meeting concluded at approximately 2 p.m., at which point a member of the audience spoke about the University's investments. 

"Amy Towers and Mary DiMartino and the rest of y'all who are on the Joint Committee on Investments, you need to divest from Israel now," the speaker said. "Why are we funneling students into these genocidal f*cking companies? … What is wrong with you?"

Other members of the audience then began pro-Palestinian chants and left the building.