Ohio State University says it legally can't divest from Israel - here's the law behind that
After a series of protests calling for Ohio State University to divest from Israel — which led to more than three dozen arrests this week — Ohio State University spokesperson Ben Johnson released a short statement Thursday night.
"Ohio Revised Code Section 9.76 prohibits the university from divesting any interests in Israel and prohibits adopting or adhering to a policy that requires divestment from Israel or with persons or entities associated with it," Johnson said in the statement.
Here's what you need to know about OSU's legal ability to divest:
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What the law says about Ohio State divestment from Israel
Johnson is referring to Ohio Revised Code (ORC) Section 9.76 — which was signed into law by then-Gov. John Kasich in 2016 and later amended in 2022 — which prohibits state agencies like universities from contracting with companies that are boycotting or disinvesting from Israel.
While this section of the law doesn't explicitly state that universities are prohibited from divesting from Israel, Ohio Attorney General's Office spokesperson Bethany McCorkle said the law has that effect anyway.
"The university cannot do itself what it is prohibited from doing through others. Allowing a wholesale boycott and divestiture by a university would circumvent the law and render it meaningless," she said.
The sponsor of the 2022 revision to ORC 9.76 that explicitly includes public universities as state agencies, Republican State Sen. Jerry Cirino, also said that section of the law prevents schools from divesting.
"The general intent is to make sure that we are accommodating to our allies and friends, strategically certainly, and we don't want things that are coming up today with these requests on our campuses that students are making, they may or may not be students, but protesters are asking for our universities to not do business with Israeli companies or companies in any way associated with Israel or those that are friendly to Israel. We just don't want to have that," Cirino said.
ORC 9.76, which received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Ohio legislature, has not been challenged in court.
While no Ohio universities have divested from Israel, they have divested or attempted to divest from other nations in the past.
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During apartheid, Ohio University divested $60,000 of its investments from South Africa in 1977, according to a 1982 report from the American Committee on Africa.
In 1978, Miami University's board of trustees voted to divest from corporations that do business in South Africa before reversing their decision after the state Attorney General warned them their action may violate state law, according to a June 1978 New York Times article.
There is no federal law prohibiting universities from divesting from Israel, although some have been proposed.
What is divestment?
Divestment is the act of withdrawing investments in Israel, Israel-affiliated companies and other organizations that support Israel, according to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions website.
Divestment is one third of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement that calls for boycotting Israeli companies and international companies that support Israel, disinvesting from similar organizations, and for governments to issue economic sanctions on Israel.
Ohio is one of 38 states that have similar anti-BDS laws on the books, according to the Jewish Virtual Library.
The main target of OSU Divest, one of the groups spearheading this week's protests, is OSU's Office of Investments, which handles the school's endowments.
The OSU Office of Investments manages a long-term investment pool made up of endowments — which are donor gifts to the school — and university funds to "protect the financial health of the university and Wexner Medical Center," according to its website.
The office's investment strategy for these funds is "designed to produce steady growth over the long term while mitigating downside risk," according to its website.
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OSU Divest wants Ohio State's investment office to divest its investments in Israeli companies or companies that support Israel, according to its website.
In an email to OSU student newspaper The Lantern in March, OSU spokesperson Chris Booker clarified the role of the Office of Investments.
"Ohio State utilizes a diversified investment strategy to grow the resources available to support our academic mission, such as student scholarships, faculty positions and educational resources," Booker said.
"The university follows all applicable laws regarding investments, including state laws specifically addressing this issue. Ohio State's endowment is not funded with tuition or fees."
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State says it legally can't divest from Israel - here's why
