The Wayne State University Board of Governors, through the WSU Foundation, must take action to divest from companies directly aiding in what human rights organizations have characterized as apartheid and genocide.
The Nuseirat Collective continues a long tradition of student-led movements against oppressive regimes, drawing inspiration from the Civil Rights and Black Panthers Movement, the anti-Viet Nam War movement, and the movement against apartheid in South Africa. The "student intifada,” or the “student revolution," has reignited activism on college campuses, demanding universities divest from companies aiding in the Israeli occupation. Divestment is a tool that has not only worked in the past by contributing to the collapse of apartheid in South Africa, but it also functions to push universities away from the financing of exploitation and oppression and toward humanity. Wayne State University, nestled in the heart of Detroit, stands at a unique intersection of history, scholarship, and activism. As a prominent research institution with a storied legacy in civil rights, Wayne State is not only positioned to lead in academic excellence but also to act decisively against moral injustices.
Wayne State’s endowment reflects the total investable assets of a nonprofit institution. Endowments support the school’s operations. The Wayne State University Foundation hires an Outside Chief Investment Officer who puts the money into an asset manager (Commonfund) who puts the money into multiple portfolios of different types of investments (domestic equities, international equities, fixed income, private equity, venture capital, etc). Some of the companies within the portfolio aid apartheid or manufacture weapons used in war, like the current genocide in Gaza.
The Wayne State University community, committed to justice and equality, calls for divestment from these companies. The call for divestment from Israel is rooted in the same moral and ethical frameworks that guided earlier movements. Just as the global boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement helped dismantle South African apartheid, a similar strategy can be applied to address the injustices faced by Palestinians. WSU BOG took a stance against South African apartheid in the 1980s. Wayne State was also the first university in the nation to pass divestment in 2003, and it passed again in 2023. Divestment is not merely a financial maneuver; it is a powerful statement against systems of oppression and a call for human dignity and equality.