Controversy surrounds Hampshire's divestment
Liz Brasington
Issue date: 2/26/09 Section: News
On Feb. 7, Hampshire College's Board of Trustees announced that the college would be transferring assets held in a State Street Global Advisors fund to another fund.
The board based the decision on a screening by KLD Research & Analysis, a reviewer for socially responsible investment. This screening was initiated by a recommendation from the Committee at Hampshire on Investment Responsibility, a community-based subcommittee who responded to a petition from Hampshire's Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
The students petitioned for divestment after the Palestinian civil society called for a boycott, divestment and sanction in order to put financial pressure on Israel.
After the board's announcement, the group sent out a press release praising the college's response to the Israeli "occupation" of Palestine. The press release was sent out to the media in several different languages.
The press release states that "by divesting from these companies, SJP believes that Hampshire has distanced itself from complicity in the illegal occupation and war crimes of Israel."
The companies included in SJP's report were Caterpillar, United Technologies, General Electric, ITT Corporation, Motorola and Terex. However, KLD's research found that Motorola and Terex were not complicit in socially irresponsible behavior. Overall, the study revealed that over 200 companies had violated their policy of socially responsible investing.
According to an online letter by Hampshire's President Ralph Hexter and Chair of the Board of Trustees Sigmund Roos, the KLD social responsibility standards included "employment discrimination, environmental abuse, military weapons manufacturing, unsafe workplace settings and dealings with Burma or Sudan."
Much to the college's chagrin, the recent divestment has spurred a considerable amount of controversy in the news and in the blogosphere. Alan Dershowitz, author of "The Case for Israel," published a scathing response to the college's actions in The Huffington Post.
The board based the decision on a screening by KLD Research & Analysis, a reviewer for socially responsible investment. This screening was initiated by a recommendation from the Committee at Hampshire on Investment Responsibility, a community-based subcommittee who responded to a petition from Hampshire's Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
The students petitioned for divestment after the Palestinian civil society called for a boycott, divestment and sanction in order to put financial pressure on Israel.
After the board's announcement, the group sent out a press release praising the college's response to the Israeli "occupation" of Palestine. The press release was sent out to the media in several different languages.
The press release states that "by divesting from these companies, SJP believes that Hampshire has distanced itself from complicity in the illegal occupation and war crimes of Israel."
The companies included in SJP's report were Caterpillar, United Technologies, General Electric, ITT Corporation, Motorola and Terex. However, KLD's research found that Motorola and Terex were not complicit in socially irresponsible behavior. Overall, the study revealed that over 200 companies had violated their policy of socially responsible investing.
According to an online letter by Hampshire's President Ralph Hexter and Chair of the Board of Trustees Sigmund Roos, the KLD social responsibility standards included "employment discrimination, environmental abuse, military weapons manufacturing, unsafe workplace settings and dealings with Burma or Sudan."
Much to the college's chagrin, the recent divestment has spurred a considerable amount of controversy in the news and in the blogosphere. Alan Dershowitz, author of "The Case for Israel," published a scathing response to the college's actions in The Huffington Post.
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 8
Dina Jacir
posted 2/27/09 @ 10:24 PM EST
Dear Liz and editor,
My name is Dina Jacir and I was the student from Hampshire's Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) interviewed for the Sophian. (Continued…)
K2K2
K2K2
posted 3/01/09 @ 2:08 PM EST
It is deeply distressing that anyone claiming to be educated would make any comparison between Israel and the apartheid era of the Republic of South Africa in order to pressure college and universities to divest investments from companies who do business with Israel in any sector. (Continued…)
Jon Haber
posted 3/02/09 @ 1:46 PM EST
The issue is not one of interpretation. Simply put: the college DID NOT divest in Israel. Tt made that clear when the decision was first taken and has been forced to continue to clarify that daily, not because of Alan Dershowitz or the ADL, but because the SJP has decided to speak on behalf of the college, telling the world that the school has done what it clearly stated it did not do. (Continued…)
Dina Jacir
posted 3/03/09 @ 8:24 PM EST
Actually John,
SJP NEVER CLAIMED DIVESTMENT FROM ISRAEL. Get your facts straight. We claimed that we divested from the Israel OCCUPATION, meaning six companies (which later became five) that we targeted as directly profiting from Israel's occupation of Palestine: General Electric, United Technologies, ITT Corporation, Terex, Motorola, and Caterpillar. (Continued…)
Jon Haberjon
posted 3/04/09 @ 6:42 AM EST
Actually, the only thing we know with absolute certaintly is that Hampshire DID NOT make this decision because of Israel, "the Occupation" (buggah, buggah, buggah) or anything having to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict. (Continued…)
K2K2
posted 3/04/09 @ 12:50 PM EST
Confirming what Jon Haber has written, in their own words: Ralph Hexter, president and Sigmund Roos, chair of the Board of Trustees, Hampshire College
". (Continued…)
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