PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Brown University is not divesting from 10 companies that some students argued were supporting Israel’s armed forces. The Brown Corporation voted on Tuesday to support a recommendation against divestment from Brown’s Advisory Committee on University Resources Management, also known as ACURM. Niyanta Nepal is a member of the Brown Divest Coalition and was one of 19 students that went on a hunger strike for divestment back in February. “It’s been a hard day for sure, I am overcome with an immense feeling of grief and disappointment in my institution,” said Nepal. The decision comes after students for and against divestment made their cases to ACURM last month. “It was a fair diplomatic opportunity that we had to really resolve what’s been a pretty long standing issue on campus, especially over the last year, and I know Jewish students across campus are feeling very relieved that campus is a safer spot and that we can ease with rest that this was a fair process,” said Daniel Solomon with the Student Organizing Committee on Antisemitism. In a letter sent to the community, the Brown Corporation said that the university found to have “no direct investments in any of the companies targeted for divestment and that any indirect exposure for Brown in these companies is so small that it could not be directly responsible for social harm.” “I think that is fair to say that just because the bureaucracy of this university does not agree with divestment doesn’t mean that students will stop fighting for divestment, fighting for the fact that people are still dying on the ground right now, being murdered, I don’t think anything changes in light of this decision,” Nepal continued. “I think that this decision, whether some people like it or not, closes the book, closes the chapter on this period that has really been a period of strife for a lot of Jewish students on campus,” Solomon concluded. The letter to the Brown University community also mentioned that there’s no doubt questions still remain following all of this, like how the bar for divestment should be set, adding that those questions will be discussed by the corporation in the future. Categories: News