Who is being arrested at protests and how hard would it be to “divest”?
Protests have taken campuses by storm throughout the country.
Emory, UGA, Kennesaw State, and SCAD have all seen at least one day of protest against the war in Gaza.
So, who is being arrested? Students and faculty, or outside agitators? Channel 2′sMichael Doudna looked into the arrest and the feasibility of one of the major demands by protestors.
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Protests began in earnest at Emory University last Thursday.
According to Emory University, 28 people were arrested for trying to start an encampment. 20 of those protestors were students or faculty.
This past weekend, police also arrested Derek Zika, an out-of-state man who police said had pepper spray and knives on his person at the time.
This week, 16 protestors were arrested trying to start an encampment at the University of Georgia. Police say 9 were students.
Overall, out of the 45 arrested individuals, 29 (64%) were either students or faculty.
A common demand from protestors is for universities to “Divulge and Divest” from corporations supporting Israel.
“What am I trying to achieve by this? And what exactly is the level of support that this investment is supposed to be giving the government in Israel?” Emory professor emeritus Raymond Hill said.
Hill dealt with a similar issue 50 years ago while working at Princeton. Back then, protestors put pressure on colleges to divest from apartheid South Africa.
“It was complex enough 50 years ago that Princeton and other institutions decided to form this one institution to study it. But I would say, it’s ten times more complex today,” Hill said.
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Hill said back then, the focus was on a few corporations. However, in today’s global economy, almost every major corporation deals internationally, including in Israel.
“Almost everyone in the S&P 500 is going to have some business relationship, so you are saying let us sell all of my portfolio,” Hill said.
This would likely hurt the endowments of universities.
Hill says the major purpose of those endowments is for capital projects to improve a university and to offer financial aid for students.
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