Divesture at U. of C.
“I can direct all my anger against something that deserves anger”
“The young girl dancing to the latest beat
Has found new ways to move her feet
The young man speaking in the city square
Is trying to tell somebody that he cares
Yeah, the ones that you’re calling wild
Are gonna be the leaders in a little while”
“This is our decision, to live fast and die young
We’ve got the vision, now let’s have some fun
Yeah, it’s overwhelming, but what else can we do?
Get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning commute?”
Edward H. Levi Hall is the first modern building constructed on the University of Chicago’s Hyde Park campus. Completed in 1948, this addition to the Main Quadrangle houses what is best described as the heartbeat of the University—the president’s and the provost’s offices. No surprise then that pro-Palestinian U. of C. students chose to build their Gaza Solidarity encampment in the Quad within earshot of Levi Hall.
Similarity Between Encampments. As I have reported in an earlier article, one college Gaza Solidarity encampment looks just like another. The tent structures are identical; the chants are the same; the speeches are identical, the food stocks are identical; the prayer services are identical; and the attire worn by the student demonstrators is the same. Are these striking similarities just a coincidence? Are they just a case of student see, student do? Or is there a master puppeteer pulling the strings?
I am not a fan of grand conspiracy theories or claims that outside agitators have infiltrated student groups, but I have seen several articles in reputable newspapers reporting that the protests are not entirely grassroots uprisings. In a November 17, 2023 New York Times article, Alan Blinder reported that Students for Justice in Palestine (“SJP”) had developed a toolkit for activists. While the group was founded 30 years ago, Binder’s article characterizes SJP as a lose affiliation of local campus groups rather than a top-down national organization.
In a May 3, 2024 article, the Wall Street Journal reported that in the months leading up to the recent turmoil on college campuses, students at Columbia University “began consulting with groups such as the National Students for Justice in Palestine, veterans of campus protests and former Black Panthers.” Tawnell D. Hobbs, Valerie Bauerlein, and Dan Frosch, Activist Groups Trained Students for Months Before Campus Protests. The Journal article suggested that SJP may be more than a mere grassroots collection of local chapters. Referring to the group as the National Students for Justice in Palestine, the Journal reported that “[f]or the last decade, donations to NSJP have been received and administered by the Wespac Foundation, according to Howard Horowitz, Wespac’s board chairman. The donations are passed on to NSJP ‘for projects in the United States,’ he said, declining to provide further details.”
Time and further investigative reporting will tell, but the similarity between campus Gaza Solidarity encampments my be attributable to a playbook developed by SJP or another organization. If outside groups are supplying money and other resources, those groups may be restricting how the funds can be used, which might account for the similarity between encampments.
[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]
The Student Demonstrators Marking Their Territory
Two Tents Inside the Encampment Encroaching on Walkways
Two Controversial Phrases on A Display Board Impeding Passage Through the Encampment
Another Barrier
The Encampment Library, Evidence That the U. of C. Is Where Fun Goes to Die
A Man Carrying Refreshments From Starbucks (A No, No) Passes a Demonstrator Wearing a "Jews Say Cease Fire Now" T-Shirt
The University of Chicago Gaza Solidarity Encampment Rules
A Labor of Love: Painting Signs
Plenty of Paint for Lots of Signs
Liberated From the U. of C.
Setting the Beat
Intersectionality (I)
Counter-Demonstrators Hung An American Flag In the Quad
The Angry Student. I was startled when I overhead a young man (quoted at the outset) describing his anger. I can certainly understand why he and other students are angry about what is happening in Gaza, but this young man indicated that he has a reservoir of anger that runs deeper than and far beyond the events in Gaza.
According to the U. of C. website, there are currently 7,653 students enrolled as undergraduates. I did not do a headcount, but based on my visual observations, I suspect that there are no more than 200 to 300 students residing in the U. of C. Gaza Solidarity encampment.
Given all the ink being devoted to unrest on college campuses around the country, the public has good reason to believe that every college student has exchanged his or her dorm room for a tent, but that simply is not the case. As I walked around the campuses at Columbia, CCNY, NYU, DePaul, and the U. of C., I have seen far more students going about business as usual: reading a book in the quad, enjoying coffee or a beer while sitting outdoors at a nearby college hangout, tossing a frisbee with friends, finishing a run, frolicking on a lawn with a lover, or scurrying off to class on the opposite side of campus.
Friday afternoon, I stopped into Truth Be Told, a new tavern on the U. of C.’s campus. The facility was filled close to capacity, with students celebrating the week’s end. I don’t recall seeing anyone wearing a keffiyeh.
Maybe when a given encampment first opened, those students not encamping stopped to take a close look at the spectacle. But most of the student passersby I now see, quickly pass by as they head somewhere else. Several students even walked nonchalantly around encampment barriers in an effort to get to their destination via the most efficient route.
Why are students in the encampments so passionate and angry, while so many others go about business as usual? If the issue du jour had nothing to do with the Middle East, would these same students be camped out in quads throughout the country, or would an entirely different student demographic be engaged in the protest activity?
Why by his own admission is this young man so angry? He attends one of the top universities in the world, with endless opportunities awaiting him upon graduation. Is it Gaza, or is Gaza just an excuse to vent his internal anger about his personal circumstances or inadequacies? I don’t have an answer to these questions, but whenever I see people engage in extreme protest activity, I wonder whether deeper personal issues are in play—possibly feelings of alienation, or rejection by peers.
I should not be playing armchair psychologist. I do, however, wonder whether there has been any academic research to determine whether certain personality types are drawn to more extreme forms of political protest.
Demonstrating Outside the President's and Provost's Offices
Filling the Walkway With Slogans Written In Chalk
Declaring Victory Outside Edward H. Levi Hall
University Police Controlling Access to Edward H. Levi Hall
Reading His Speech
Blowing Bubbles
Waltzing Through the Puddles
And Then the Rains Came
"Let Our People Go"
Security Guard Maintaining a Vigil on the U of C Campus
Joyous Celebration in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment
An Israel Floating in the Breeze Within Sight of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment
The Letter From the President. On Friday morning, Paul Alivisatos, the U. of C.’s president, sent the following letter to all members of the U. of C. community:
Dear Members of the University Community,
For more than four days, those encamped on the Main Quadrangle have expressed their views freely. I imagine there isn’t a person on campus who isn’t aware of their message. Yesterday, the provost and I met with them to better understand those views and seek a pathway forward. As I wrote on Monday, out of principle we provide the greatest leeway possible for free expression, even expression of viewpoints that some find deeply offensive, even in rare cases at the expense of some policy violations–for a time. But the encampment cannot continue.
The encampment has created systematic disruption of campus. Protesters are monopolizing areas of the Main Quad at the expense of other members of our community. Clear violations of policies have only increased. Our students have issued a torrent of reports of disrupted classroom learning. Other disruptions include repeated destruction of an approved installation of Israeli flags, shouting down speakers they disagree with, vandalism and graffiti on historic buildings, incorporating walkways into the encampment, and co-opting the University flagpole to fly the Palestinian flag.
What started as a modest encampment has grown each day. Fewer police are providing safety patrols in the neighborhoods because they are obliged to be present for the growing 24-hour unauthorized protest. Left to itself, there is no end in sight, and the disruptions will continue to mount. The encampment protesters have flouted our policies rather than working within them, despite UChicago being an institution that allows for many ways to express views.
We met with the group designated by the protesters to listen to their demands and to search for a way to end the encampment grounded in dialogue. They shared genuine and powerful statements about what has brought them to the encampment. I very much regret that we have not yet found common ground. The nature of their demands are such that we could not accede. There remain, however, numerous ways consistent with our principles and policies for the protesters to advance their views. We are prepared to support meaningful engagement on the issues that the protesters have called attention to.
On Monday, I stated that we would only intervene if what might have been an exercise of free expression blocks the learning or expression of others or substantially disrupts the functioning or safety of the University.
Without an agreement to end the encampment, we have reached that point.
Paul Alivisatos
When I arrived on campus Thursday afternoon, I saw one incident that likely played into President Alivisatos’ decision to draw a line. A Palestinian flag was flying in a tree in an area that another group of students had been using to display pro-Israeli signage and flags. A maintenance crew, protected by four or five U. of C. police officers, was removing the flag, as a group of 25 or so angry students jeered at the crew, getting closer and closer. The police managed to hold the crowd back without incident.
Notably, some students were chanting “UCP! KKK” at the police responders, most, if not all of whom, were Black. Those officers did not use force; they ignored the taunts and efforts to record their actions; and they did exactly what the U. of C. asked them to do—protect the maintenance crew removing the flag.
The student group, Maroons for Israel, was well advised. They had set up a pro-Israeli installation just to the east of the Gaza Solidarity encampment. Rather than acting without U. of C. approval, Maroons had registered the installation in accordance with campus rules. I was told that the Palestinian flag in question was located inside the area set aside for the pro-Israeli installation, which apparently is why university officials ordered the flag’s removal.
I waited until well after dark on Friday to see whether the U. of C. would shut down the encampment. As of Monday evening, there have been no reports that the U. of C. has intervened. To some extent, I am not surprised. When I left the campus late Thursday afternoon, I sensed that although a bit unsightly, the encampment was not very intrusive, nor were the students likely to pursue a more violent course. At times the students were noisy, but most of the time they were rather subdued. I assumed at the time that U. of C.’s administration was just going to let the students burn themselves out.
University Police Keep Encampers At Bey While a University Maintenance Crew Starts to Remove a Palestinian Flag Hanging Outside of the Encampment
Making a Second Attempt to Takedown the Palestinian Flag as Students and Demonstrators Look On
Removing the Flag
A Demonstrator Apparently Arguing or Pleading With University Police
The Palestinian Flag Was Returned to the Demonstrators
A Heated Discussion
Pro-Israeli Students Set Up an Installation Adjacent to the Gaza Solidarity Encampment
Pro-Palestinian Students Stage A March on the Quad
Seemingly Trying To Rehang the Flag as a University Police Officer Leaves the Scene
Counter-Demonstrators Display the American Flags In Close Proximity to the Gaza Solidarity Encampment
Jewish Students and Others Engaged in a Sabbath Service Within Earshot of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment
A Note on Divestiture. Pro-Palestinian student demonstrators throughout the country are demanding that university investment managers sell stock in companies that do business with Israeli interests. Those at the U. of C. are making a more limited demand—that the university sell its investments in companies that fund Israeli military operations.
If any students around the country should know that divesture is ineffective, it should be U. of C. students. University of Chicago Professor Merton Miller, together with Franco Modigliani, were awarded the 1990 Nobel Prize in Economics for their work demonstrating that the value of a corporation is unaffected by its capital structure. Or, as Yogi Berra once said as he entered his favorite pizzeria, “I m particularly hungry today, so instead of cutting my pizza into the usual six slices, cut it in 12.” Under the Miller-Modigliani theorem, the value of a defense contractor will not change simply because a university endowment sells its holdings in the contractor.
Even if Miller and Modigliani were wrong, the raw numbers strongly suggest that divesture has little, if any, impact. For the 2021 fiscal year, university endowments in the U.S. held $927 billion in assets. At the end of calendar year 2020, U.S. equity markets were valued at $50.8 trillion. While somewhat of an apples and oranges comparison—the $927 billion number includes investments in fixed income securities, real estate, and other assets, in addition to investments in stocks—the relative magnitude of the two dollar amounts demonstrates that college and university divesture of defense-industry stocks will have little if any impact on those firms or their valuations, particularly because the large pools of non-university capital are invariably ready to pick up the stock at a bargain price.
The students are extremely naive when it comes to the current investment landscape. Back in 1975, the U. of C. may have held direct investments in Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, and other defense contractors. Over the last 50 years, however, investment practices have evolved dramatically. While the U. of C. may still hold direct interests in publicly-traded corporations, a significant portion of the equity holdings in its investment portfolio are likely comprised of indirect investments through mutual funds, exchange traded funds, private equity funds, hedge funds, and other forms of regulated investment companies Those who manage these investment vehicles may regularly trade in and out of stocks, making it difficult for the U. of C. to know whether it owns interests in manufacturers of weapons. Even if the U. of C. had perfect knowledge, it might not be able to divest due to restrictions on redemptions and sales of interests in the investment vehicles. Moreover, even if the U. of C. could sell its interest in an investment vehicle that holds defense stocks, there could be significant financial penalties for doing so.
Setting transactional issues aside, academic studies call into question the effectiveness of divesture. I don’t intend to do a survey of the academic literature, but an October 20, 2015 article entitled Does Divestment Work? summarizes some of the research. Although the article is a bit dated, I don’t think its conclusions have changed. According to the article, divesture has very little, if any practical impact on share value or corporate behavior. Moreover, by divesting, a university foregoes the opportunity to vote its shares to affect corporate policy.
To summarize, students across the country who are demanding divesture are making both an unrealistic and ineffective demand. They are trafficking in symbolism rather than substance—just another sign of virtue signaling.
A Man Discusses Workers' Rights Wth a Group of Students
Offering a Marxist Spin
The Dr. Hamman Alloh Medical Tent
Pantry Holding Gaza Solidarity Encampment Medical Supplies
One Frat House Hung a Large American Flag Within Site of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment
Cosplaying. The U. of C. encampers did not prevent photographers from photographing the encampment. But I was approached multiple times by students on Friday asking me who I was and why I taking photographs. On Friday night, a student asked me not to use flash because it was upsetting students on the other side of the encampment.
I also noticed that when I photographed a group of students having a discussion, that one of the students turned, and pointed her cellphone at me. I can’t say for sure, but I suspect she was capturing a photograph or video footage of me. That would certainly not be the first time someone has turned the camera on me. For the record, go ahead and video me all you want. If anything, it just validates my right to photograph you. I should note that several students appeared to be recording their interactions with university police. I suspect that like me, the police don’t care.
Like the DePaul University students, the U. of C. students demand protest without consequences. They want to express their convictions but want to assure that upon graduation they can still obtain employment with large management consulting firms, investment banks, law firms, and tech companies. In other words, they want to keep their options open to join the system that so many of them decry. On university campuses, protest is cosplay, or in a phrase from an earlier era, playing house.
May Be Photographing the Photographer
Student Demonstrators Appear to Be Recording This Encounter With the Police
An Exercise in Virtue Signaling: Preventing Photographers From Capturing Images of Prayer Activity
A Flash That Some Found Upsetting
Normally, the timestamps for my posts reflect the time I left the event. The post is based on information known at that time. Because events have been unfolding so rapidly during the last two weeks, I’ve fallen behind in preparing my posts. Consequently, this one reflects events through May 6, 2024 at 8:00 PM.
Copyright 2024, Jack B. Siegel. All Rights Reserved. Do Not Alter, Copy, Display, Distribute, Download, Duplicate, or Reproduce Without the Prior Written Consent of the Copyright Holder.
