The University of Vermont said Wednesday that it publicly disclosed its endowment investments this week as pro-Palestinian student protesters continue their encampment on the Burlington campus.
UVM provost and senior vice president Patricia Prelock met with a group of 12 students on Tuesday evening and told them that the university had disclosed its financial investments. She also said that she would bring their concerns over the university’s commencement speaker back to other leaders of the institution for discussion.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is set to speak at UVM’s commencement ceremony later this month. Protesters have characterized the choice as insulting, given that the U.S. vetoed three resolutions at the United Nations calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
In a post on the “UVM Palestine Solidarity Encampment” Telegram channel Wednesday morning, students said that the university would publicly disclose the endowment’s investments in response to protesters’ demands.
Adam White, a university spokesperson, disputed that characterization, saying that a list of funds in which the university’s endowment is invested was included this week as part of a scheduled update by the vice president for finance and administration to the budget, finance and investment subcommittee of the university’s Board of Trustees.
Meanwhile, the student encampment on campus, established on Sunday, has continued to expand. The Telegram post Wednesday morning stated that protesters were encouraged by the disclosure of the university’s investments but would remain on campus until all their demands — which include divestment from “all weapons manufacturers, Israeli companies, and companies involved in the occupation of historic Palestine” — were met.
In an interview Wednesday afternoon Prelock said administrators were not currently discussing divestment.
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On Sunday, tents began to spring up on UVM’s Andrew Harris Commons — joining a surge of student activism on campuses across the country amid growing outcry over Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip in its war against Hamas. Elsewhere in Vermont, encampments have also formed at Middlebury College and Sterling College.
Hundreds of student protesters in dozens of states have been arrested. On Tuesday night, hundreds of New York City police officers in riot gear cleared protesters on Columbia University’s campus.
UVM administrators have given no indication that they plan to use police force on students, but they have set up a surveillance tower over the encampment. Some students have been notified that they are violating university policy against camping overnight and demonstrating on university grounds without a reservation, according to Prelock.
“They were given a document that explains clearly what policies they are violating and so we institute then a conduct process that is a very fair and confidential process for students,” she said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, several dozen tents could be seen on campus. Protesters were seated in Adirondack chairs on their laptops, or in their tents, as students walked by.
Many students at the encampment spoke with VTDigger on Tuesday but declined to provide their names, citing a fear of reprisal from the university or police.
Later in the afternoon, speakers led chants and waved signs calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.
“We have a momentum that I don’t think is going away any time soon,” said Jon Shaffer, an assistant professor of sociology at UVM, during a teach-in at the encampment on Tuesday.
‘Our focus is on dialogue’
Protesters at Middlebury College, who also set up an encampment on Sunday that has since grown to include roughly 100 tents, were similarly upbeat on Wednesday. Students walked out of scheduled classes at 11:30 a.m. as part of a protest organized by participants in the pro-Palestinian encampment.
“It was an incredible turnout…we were thrilled to see just lines of people descending the hills from their classes coming to join us,” student encampment protester Oliver Patrick said of the walkout, which was part of a national effort led by the National Students for Justice in Palestine.
Students gathered on a lawn next to the encampment and near the building that houses college president Laurie Patton’s office. At the beginning of the protest, students faced the building and chanted “disclose, divest, we won’t stop, we won’t rest.”
Sophomore and protest participant Sam Merriam said that “this specific event” might not change “the outcomes of the genocide” or Israel’s occupation of Gaza. “But as you know, a part of a larger puzzle, I think it’s, I think it’s a valuable thing.”
School administrators met with members of the Middlebury encampment for the first time on Tuesday.
“We discussed their concerns, general safety, and exploring avenues for continued engagement. We did not reach a resolution at that time but plan to continue the discussions in the coming days,” the college said in a statement provided by Middlebury spokesperson Jon Reidel.
“Right now, the group’s behavior is not substantially disruptive, and our focus is on dialogue and our educational mission,” the statement read.
Patrick, the student organizer, said that administrators so far had not expressed intent to disperse the encampment. “And they have expressed an interest in working with us,” he said.
“We hope this is reflected in their actions, and they take our demands seriously…We hope that their rhetorical commitment to harm reduction is expressed in their actions as people in Gaza are dying every day,” Patrick said.
Clarification: Based on information provided by the UVM administration, an earlier version of this story mischaracterized the timing of the release of the university’s financial information.
Read the story on VTDigger here: UVM discloses investments as pro-Palestinian protests continue on campus.