NEW YORK (RNS) — Union Theological Seminary’s board of trustees voted Thursday (May 9) to divest from all companies profiting off the war in Gaza. Union, a private, ecumenical school, shares a graduate studies program with Columbia University but is independent and maintains a separate, $127 million endowment, is the first U.S. institute of higher education known to divest from the war in Gaza.
“We do it with humility and we do it with a sense of moral conviction,” said Union’s president, the Rev. Serene Jones.
In November, Union’s board of trustees, which includes Jones, hired Cambridge Associates, a private investment management company, to review the seminary’s investment portfolio to identify companies that are financially invested in the war in Gaza.
The board will now transition to selling its shares of the identified companies. “We have a very good investment committee who are completely, at a moral level, committed to seeing this through,” Jones said.
In a statement after the trustees had approved the measure, they said, “With respect to companies that are profiting from the present war in Palestine, we continue tohold these standards high and have taken steps to identify all investments, both domestic andglobal, that support and profit from the present killing of innocent civilians in Palestine.”
Chris Marsicano, an assistant professor of educational studies a …
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“We do it with humility and we do it with a sense of moral conviction,” said Union’s president, the Rev. Serene Jones.
In November, Union’s board of trustees, which includes Jones, hired Cambridge Associates, a private investment management company, to review the seminary’s investment portfolio to identify companies that are financially invested in the war in Gaza.
The board will now transition to selling its shares of the identified companies. “We have a very good investment committee who are completely, at a moral level, committed to seeing this through,” Jones said.
In a statement after the trustees had approved the measure, they said, “With respect to companies that are profiting from the present war in Palestine, we continue tohold these standards high and have taken steps to identify all investments, both domestic andglobal, that support and profit from the present killing of innocent civilians in Palestine.”
Chris Marsicano, an assistant professor of educational studies a …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]