I remember watching the Vietnam protests on a black-and-white television set during my childhood. I was living in a conservative south Texas town where it was rare to see men with long hair or women with flowers in their hair. Most protesters were peaceful youths who passionately wanted the war to end. But there were a minority of protesters who used violence and vandalism to achieve their goals. Reporters primarily focused on the clashes between protesters and the police, not the peaceful protests.
My most vivid memory was when I was in sixth grade and worked after school in a barber shop. On TV was a Washington, DC protest near the national mall. Young people were shouting at police who moved to quell the chaos. The oldest of the three barbers in the shop walked over to the TV and made an obscene hand gester directly in front of the TV screen. Even at this formulative time of my life, I understood what the barber was conveying. I later learned that the barber’s son had protested the Vietnam war. His image of hatred is etched in my memory.
The college protests that recently swept through US campuses is also personal for me. My niece is a professor at one of the universities where protests were occurring. Her mother is Jewish and concerned about her safety. They are secular Jews yet have a stake in Judaism and Israel. My sister-in-law’s family knows first-hand the meaning of genocide and injustice. Her grandfather escaped Poland a few years prior to WWII and after a perilous journey through Poland and Germany, somehow managed to immigrate to New York City. Within ten years, all his Polish relatives perished in the holocaust. My sister-in-law views Israel as the last Jewish refuge. Israel’s survival is her survival, even if she never lives there.
I have traveled three times to Israel and visited the West Bank 15 months ago. I visited occupied Palestinian communities and saw their difficult living conditions. I have studied Biblical and Jewish history. It is easy for me to declare: “Just love one another as Jesus taught.” Yet I am a realist; there are no easy solutions in a country with three thousand years of turbulent history and radically different cultures living in proximity. I do know that violence will not solve the divisions. Building tunnels, buying weapons, and attacking civilians will not gain freedom. Using overwhelming force and indiscriminate bombing will not bring goodwill.
I watched the film clips of the recent college protests. The Emory University protests over this past weekend are vivid in my mind as I write. Camped protesters were asked by police to leave. Some chose not to follow the police’s instructions and resisted arrest. The police then used force to arrest protesters. I saw a screaming young woman being wrestled to the ground by armed police and bounded with plastic bands, something a parent does not want to see on a college campus. Yet the protesters were first told to leave and disobeyed. If a person decides to disobey police instructions and defy the law, he or she should do so peacefully by putting their arms behind to be bound, speaking with love, and showing kindness to the police.
The Columbia University students are demanding that the university divest the university’s endowment of all investments that aid Israel. I serve as the Chair of the Investment Committee of a small liberal arts university, so I have some expertise in university endowments. The same requests have been made related to hydrocarbon investments. I find the protester’s reasoning flawed. First, it is impractical. University endowments are diverse and not easily divided. It is technically difficult to extract individual companies from large managed funds. While a few specialized companies might be identified, most companies sell through various distribution channels that may or may not be in their control. Israel is a relatively small market for international suppliers. Do you divest Proctor & Gamble because they sell paper towels to Israel and Palestine? The first obligation of the endowment is to support the university’s mission: educating students. Weakening the endowment’s return may harm the university’s ability to give low-income student scholarships. If a university divests and lowers their investment returns, some of the protesters may not be able to afford the university because their scholarships may be reduced.
Second, endowment divesting will not harm Israel. World markets have many suppliers and Israel is adept in locating the goods it needs to survive. When Russia invaded Ukraine, natural gas into western Europe was greatly reduced. Europe was able to rebalance and find alternative energy supplies. Russia rerouted gas into China and other allies, although at a lower selling price. The Ukraine war continued, despite the boycotts. Europe did not freeze.
And third, endowment divesting is a flashy concept without self-sacrifice. When Oxford students protested the university’s hydrocarbon investments, the Dean requested that the students sacrifice first before divesting. He proposed cutting off winter gas heating and electricity, returning students to a pre-hydrocarbon existence. The students needed to understand that hydrocarbons sourced many products that made life better for them. The Oxford students declined shutting off gas heating and electricity. Oxford did not divest. Having lived in the UK for over seven years, I can appreciate why the students did not want to live without modern heating. Reducing emissions is necessary but needs to be done prudently.
Instead of endowment divesting, I propose self-sacrifice. The protesters should take time off from their university studies and join a non-profit that gives aid to the Palestinians, work the Israeli harvest, take care of orphaned children, serve the poor in the West Bank or reconstruct homes destroyed by Hamas and/or Israel. It is far easier to shout for endowment divestitures than to live in a war-torn country. Christ spoke the truth within the turmoil. He did not resist arrest. His sacrifice was extremely painful. The good news is that it led to life everlasting.
