On January 9, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)’s board of trustees voted to reject a a proposal to divest its $396 million endowment from companies linked to Israel.
The decision followed months of on-campus demonstrations by pro-Palestinian student-activists at the art school, including a three-day building occupation in early May last year, leading to calls for transparency on RISD’s investments, divestment from groups allegedly supporting “Israel apartheid,” and other demands for a student-led investment oversight committee.
The proposal was led by members of RISD’s Students for Justice in Palestine (RSJP) chapter. Their representatives met with RISD President Crystal Williams, who assumed the position in 2022, and the Board’s Investment Committee in October.
According to The Brown Daily, the board concluded during that meeting that it would reach a decision on the proposal by early March. On January 15, however, the school’s administration sent a mass email announcing that the proposal was rejected. (Administrations at Trinity, Oberlin College, Brown University and many others have similarly rejected proposals to divest funds from companies with business interests in Israel.)
The school’s endowment, overseen in part by the school’s financial officers, is managed by an outside investment firm.
The administration’s email cited recommendations from the Stewardship & Sustainability Committee and its Investment Subcommittee. It states that the proposal did not meet RISD’s 2015 divestment policies, which stipulate grounds for financial divestment need to meet “the institution’s priorities as a whole rather than specific constituent groups.”
(A representative for RISD declined to comment further regarding the reasons for the student-led proposal failing to meet the school’s criteria.)
Jo Ouyang, a student representative for RISD SJP chapter told ARTnews the group planned to appeal the decision. “Despite the RISD Administration and Board of Trustees’ lack of transparency about a possible repealing process, we will continue advocating for divestment from companies facilitating the occupation and genocide in Palestine and calling for the Board of Trustees to listen to the democratic demands of its students, faculty, and community members.”
The news of the divestment vote was first reported by Hyperallergic Sunday.
