Grinnell Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) submitted a second divestment proposal earlier this month demanding that the College divest from 89 different companies financially supporting the ongoing war in Gaza. Grinnell College does not publicly provide information as to which companies may receive investments from the institution, so it is unclear whether the College is invested in any of these companies.
Last year, SJP submitted a first divestment proposal demanding divestment from companies that President Anne Harris said were not currently being financially supported by Grinnell.
“Not another nickel, not another dime. No more money for Israel’s crimes,” shouted students at a SJP rally on Sept. 19, held to address the second divestment proposal.
SJP added 68 companies to their second divestment proposal along with the 21 companies included on the previous proposal. Some of the companies on the first list included Boeing, Chevron, Hewlett Packard and Volvo, Donovan Wilcox `27, a speaker at the rally, said SJP kept the original 21 companies from their first proposal on the second proposal because “Anne Harris has told SJP that Grinnell investments change over time.”
“So it is possible that since our original proposal, Grinnell has invested in those companies,” Wilcox added.
Leo Goldman `27, a member of SJP, said the difference between the first and second proposals lies in the reasoning for choosing the companies on the list. The first proposal was specifically based on war manufacture, targeting companies that sold weapons to Israeli forces. The second proposal took a broader approach and focused on companies that were profiting and contributing to the war, especially smaller companies that may not be obvious at first glance.
Goldman said SJP spent two to three hours researching each company included on the second proposal. They based their research on lists from organizations such as WhoProfits, BDS (Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions), the American Friends Service Committee and Amnesty International, who altogether named hundreds of companies responsible for financially contributing to Israel.
WhoProfits provides research on companies that are involved commercially with Israel. Amnesty International writes independent research about injustice against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. American Friends Service Committee is an activist organization that created a list of companies that provide Israel with weapons. BDS is a Palestinian movement that boycotts Israel and companies supporting Israel.
“I take those reasons, look them up, and find news sources that backed up what they were saying,” Goldman said.
“It was something that we took very seriously,” he continued. “When you’re doing research on companies to put on a divestment proposal, you need a detailed reason and understanding of why they should be on the list.”
SJP’s second proposal focuses on topics such as surveillance technology, vacation houses on illegal settlements, telecommunication and energy companies among others. Companies such as Ford Motor Company, Airbnb, First Solar, Google, and IBM were included on the proposal.
Goldman cited the fact that SJP does not currently know if the College is actively investing in any of the listed 89 companies as one of the reasons why the second divestment proposal was so important to SJP along with the opportunity to make sure none of the College funding is going towards companies supporting acts of violence in Gaza.
“I don’t want my education to be funded with the blood of people in Gaza,” Goldman said. “So if we’re invested in companies that are committing horrible acts of violence, as a civic-minded institution, I think it makes sense that we separate ourselves from companies that are directly committing violence.”
“We will not be silenced, and we will continue to advocate until our demands for divestment and our demands for Justice in Palestine have been met,” Wilcox said.
SJP’s second proposal will be reviewed by the Grinnell College Investment Committee and the Board of Trustees. Although the proposal was submitted earlier this month, SJP does not expect to receive a response until the beginning of spring semester.
