Brown Trustee Resigns in Protest Over Divestment Vote

Brown University trustee Joseph Edelman stepped down abruptly on Sunday, expressing objections to a looming October vote in which the board will decide whether to divest endowment funds from 10 companies profiting off the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. The pro-Palestinian student protesters driving the divestment campaign at Brown and elsewhere argue that universities contribute to what they are calling genocide by investing in weapons manufacturers and companies with close ties to the Israeli government. Divestment emerged as a key demand this spring among college students who established encampments to protest the rising death toll in Gaza.