What exactly did Sacramento State and Pro-Palestinian protesters agree to about divestment?

Concerns over what many feared would be a contentious graduation this weekend at Sacramento State were eased after a peaceful end to an eight-day encampment by activists advocating for Palestinians in Israel-Hamas war.

The encampment ended following talks between Sac State officials and students.

But what exactly the university did and what the students agreed with is difficult to discern. It appears it will involve a review of more than $100 million of Sac State investments.

“We are living in a world where unfortunately it’s very hard to disconnect,” said Arik Davidyan, a Sac State biology professor, originally from Israel who agrees the university should not support war efforts. “If you look close enough, you can connect pretty much every tech company, every chip manufacturer. And what about the companies who source the materials to build these chips?”

In a May 9 video, Sac State President Luke Wood said, “We did not sign a treaty or agreement with students to close the encampment, Sac State President Luke Wood said in a May 9 video. “You sign a treaty with your enemies, not with your students. We are proud that our students expressed their concerns peacefully and in accordance with our policies. The encampment didn’t disperse because the protesters saw our policies. They left because they saw our hearts.”

Citing graduation, with ceremonies beginning today at Golden 1 Center, the university said that Wood wasn’t available to explain the review the university will undertake.

Pro-Palestinian encampments have spread across college campuses this spring calling for divestment and the activists who led the encampment at Sac State said they won a remarkable victory. They cheered as the announcement came May 8 that their school would be one of the first to take a path to divest from tens of millions of dollars of investments related to Israel.

But the practical consequences of any changes the university made is not clear.

The school did announce an important policy change earlier this month. Sac State set new standards regarding its investments to ensure they comport with “socially responsible investment strategies” and do not profit from “genocide, ethnic cleansing, and activities that violate fundamental human rights.”

Historic moment?

The CSU system has an $8.3 billion portfolio, but individual campuses have discretion over auxiliary funds. Activists at Sac State targeted those funds as part of their encampment demands.

On its website, the university says the policy is directed at five auxiliary organizations: The Associated Students, University Enterprises Inc., University Union, University Foundation at Sac State and Capital Public Radio.

“California State University, Sacramento directs its auxiliaries, including the University Foundation at Sacramento State (UFSS), to investigate socially responsible investment strategies which include not having direct investments in corporations and funds that profit from genocide, ethnic cleansing, and activities that violate fundamental human rights.”

The university says it does not have any direct investments that would violate that policy and that it will also conduct a review of “indirect investments,” which include mutual and index funds.

“We will pursue human rights-based approach to investments,” the policy statement says.

A Sacramento Bee review of investments by the auxiliary organizations, gleaned from public tax filings and annual reports, found that the university has more $150 million in indirect investments that would be subject for review.

The Sacramento State branch of Students for Justice in Palestine, which, on its Instagram page, says it wants to “end the Zionist regime,” claims that it has achieved “a deal towards full divestment.”

Faculty supporters of the encampment also declared victory.

Anne Luna, a sociology professor is president of the Sac State chapter of the California Faculty Association and a member of Faculty for Justice in Palestine.

“This is one of the biggest wins nationally that we have seen in terms of justice for Palestine and encampments getting their demands met to divest,” she said.

She called the change a historic moment.

“The administration actually said, ‘we will divest, we will create a task force to make sure that we have sustainable and ethical investments,” she said.

Luna said her understanding is that the task force will include a member of Faculty for Justice in Palestine, “to help ensure we are not making unethical investments into war profiteers.”

Sac State spokeswoman Lanaya Lewis would not comment on any specifics about the review.

“There was no investment policy prior to President Wood and his leadership team creating the Policy on Socially Responsible Investments,” she said in an email. “It is meant to provide clarity and guidance to our auxiliaries on where the University stands with socially responsible investments…This policy is not directed towards one nation, people group or region, but the world.”

Publicly available nonprofit tax returns and annual reports show that almost all of the holdings are held by the University Foundation at Sac State.

The University Foundation has more than $100 million in investments. The vast majority of funds are held in complex investment packages that often include companies such as Boeing and Northrop Grumman — corporations which advocates say should be divested from because of links to the Israeli military.

Students for Justice in Palestine’s Instagram page has a list of what it claims are “underlying investments” by the University Foundation totaling more than $80 million.

The list includes tens of millions dollars in various Vanguard Group investment products. The company, one of the largest financial corporations in the world, is a frequent target for many divestment activists.

Emails to Students for Justice in Palestine were not returned. But Luna said she believed that the list represented funds that, under the new guidelines, should be divested from.

When asked about tech companies like Google, which have a presence in Israel, Luna said, “I think it’s on the radar, you know, and it goes to part of the discussion. But I don’t know if it’s one of the ones that they located within Vanguard.”

Controversy over divestment issue

Divestment is increasingly becoming a tinder box issue.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, last week in a budget address, said he was “against divestment.”

On Wednesday Sonoma State University’s President Mike Lee was placed on administrative leave when, after striking a deal with protesters to launch a similar review of investments to Sac State’s, he sent a campus-wide email announcing that his school would also avoid academic collaborations which are “sponsored by, or represent, the Israeli state academic and research institutions.”

That remark created a firestorm among Jewish groups and in the California legislature. In response, California State University Chancellor Mildred Garcia said in a statement: “On Tuesday evening, Sonoma State University President Mike Lee sent a campus-wide message concerning an agreement with campus protesters. That message was sent without the appropriate approvals ... because of this insubordination and consequences it has brought upon the system, President Lee has been placed on administrative leave.”

Thursday, he retired.

Even critics of the deal that Wood appears to have reached with the encampment leaders said he has avoided the kind of statements that landed Sonoma State’s president in hot water.

“I think President Wood’s heart is in the right place, and he is appreciating the complexity of everything,” said Davidyan.

Davidyan, with 11 other colleagues, resigned from the California Faculty Association in April after it adopted a resolution they believed was antisemitic.

A resignation letter stated that in the resolution, “there is no mention of the brutal attacks on Israeli civilians by Hamas on October 7 that resulted in the murder of 1,400 civilians.”

Davidyan said this spring he became increasingly alarmed on campus as he has observed sentiments which have teetered toward antisemitism.

Davidyan stopped by the encampments to talk with students and to show the human side of Israelis.

He said he had a lot of productive conversations. Still, he found many of the chants that echoed through campus troubling, including “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” because it is often associated with advocating for the eradication of Israel.

He also saw one protester with a “Go back to Poland” sign.

“First of all, that doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “My father’s side are Kurdish Jewish from the Iranian part of Kurdistan, my mom’s side are Egyptian and Syrian. And it’s just upsetting, the lack of accuracy and a discourse which is not going to bring us towards peace.”

Davidyan said he is concerned about what he feels could be a polarizing campaign in the fall to get the university to divest.

“I understand the sentiment,” he said. “Personally, I would like to not support war efforts, but what does assessing our investment actually mean?