A statement by Brown University’s president, Christina H. Paxson, considering a proposal for the school to divest from Israel drew pushback from top legal officials around the country.
On Monday, 24 state attorney generals sent a letter to the university’s trustees and fellows, calling the plan “only the latest part of an antisemitic pressure campaign spearheaded by a group calling itself ‘Students for Justice in Palestine.’”
The officials pointed out that in most U.S. states, governments cannot work with entities that boycott Israel and that “if adopted, the Brown Divest Now proposal will have immediate and profound legal consequences for Brown.”
The proposal advocates divesting from companies such as Textron, Safariland, Volvo Group, Airbus, Boeing, General Dynamics, General Electric, Motorola and RTX Corporation that conduct business with the Jewish state.
The attorneys general warned that the consequences of adopting the measure could “require our states—and others—to terminate any existing relationships with Brown and those associated with it, divest from any university debt held by state pension plans and other investment vehicles, and otherwise refrain from engaging with Brown and those associated with it.”
