A trustee of Brown University, in the Ivy League, has resigned over the board’s decision to hold a vote on divesting from Israel, which was part of a deal made with pro-Palestinian students who had disrupted campus in the spring.
As Breitbart News reported at the time, Brown capitulated to the protesters’ demands, agreeing to hold a vote on divestment in October in exchange for the students agreeing to dismantle their “encampment” voluntarily.
It was the first case of a university agreeing to consider divesting from companies that do business with Israel — a core demand of the antisemitic “boycott, divestment, sanctions” (BDS) movement, which only targets the Jewish state.
Breitbart News noted:
In December, 41 anti-Israel activists were arrested after occupying an administration building. In April, activists took over an area of campus known as the Main Green, prompting concern from local Jewish leaders and clergy, who noted that some chants used by activists on and off campus were antisemitic, calling for the elimination of Israel.
Instead of enforcing university policies, Brown — like Northwestern University — decided to capitulate to the mob.
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While campus rabbis expressed relief that the encampment was being dismantled, other local Jewish groups reacted in alarm. Rabbi Ron Fish of the Anti-Defamation League’s New England chapter accused Brown of “validating a movement rife with antisemitism and hate.” Noting that Brown had opposed divestment in the past, he said that Brown’s deal would simply create incentives for more radical protest and “antisemitic harassment” of Jews.
On Monday, portions of a resignation letter by Brown trustee Joseph Edelman were published as an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.
He wrote:
I find it morally reprehensible that holding a divestment vote was even considered, much less that it will be held—especially in the wake of the deadliest assault on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. On Oct. 7, 2023, Israel was invaded and brutally attacked by Palestinian terrorists. Twelve hundred innocent people were slaughtered, some of them raped and burned alive, and more than 250 were abducted to Gaza and held as hostages. Israel, like all nations, has a moral duty to defend its citizens from terrorist attacks, and that is exactly what it has been doing. It is revealing that of all the countries in the world, only Israel is expected to restrain itself because of the civilian lives that will tragically be lost in war.
I don’t wish to imply that any real principles informed Brown’s decision to hold a divestment vote: It was made not based on facts or values but based on weakness toward student activists. The university leadership has for some reason chosen to reward, rather than punish, the activists for disrupting campus life, breaking school rules, and promoting violence and antisemitism at Brown.
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I consider the willingness to hold this vote a stunning failure of moral leadership at Brown University. I am unwilling to lend my name or give my time to a body that lacks basic moral judgment. I hereby resign from the board of trustees.
Some universities refused to give in to protesters’ demands, and the protesters agreed to disband their encampments anyway; others confronted the protesters.
A few, like Brown, gave in to the antisemitic mob.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
