Since the 7 October attack by Hamas and Israel’s retaliatory assault, students have launched rallies, sit-ins, fasts and, most recently, encampments against the war.
They are demanding that their schools, many with massive endowments, financially divest from Israel.
Divestment, for many of the protesters, means cutting those endowments’ ties to Israeli companies or ones that do business with Israel. Many also want their universities to end academic relationships with Israeli institutions.
Student activists say that companies doing business in Israel, or with Israeli organisations, are complicit in its ongoing war in Gaza – as are colleges investing in those companies.
University endowments fund everything from research labs to scholarship funds, mostly using returns from millions – and billions – of dollars in investments.