The College Fix

‘Our primary objective is to generate strong adjusted returns for the University of Virginia’: chief operating officer

The University of Virginia announced Friday that it will not sever financial ties with Israel, despite a student and faculty-led divestment campaign that began last fall.

“We are not divesting from any investments in response to the student referendum that was passed earlier this year,” Chief Operating Officer of UVA’s Investment Management Company Kristina Alimard said during a Board of Visitors meeting.

“Our primary objective is to generate strong adjusted returns for the University of Virginia. We do not utilize divestment or negative screens for nonfinancial reasons,” she said.

The stronger the company’s investment performance, the more funds are funneled into UVA’s nearly $2 billion Strategic Investment Fund, which supports student scholarships and new faculty positions, according to the Daily Progress.

The management company’s CEO, Robert Durden, said it would be “very difficult to renegotiate investment management agreements” with the 85 managers the company works with.

He also said the school does “not like using [its] investment strategy as a means of expressing a moral or political opinion.”

“It’s questionable whether or not we’re even allowed to under Virginia state law,” he added.

Some faculty members condemned the decision. Ashon Crawley, a religion professor and the president of the UVA chapter of the American Association of University Professors, called the move an “abdication of responsibility and great and good leadership.”

“What is the purpose of universities? Is it to generate wealth without any consideration for how that wealth is created,” he said.

Assistant Professor Laura Goldblatt expressed concerns about the management’s refusal to disclose specific investments.

“Why is a public university that receives almost a third of its operating budget from public sources — federal and state tax revenues — unwilling to make its finances public,” Goldblatt said.

Eight thousand students passed a referendum in February, demanding the school “to determine the extent to which University endowment funds are invested in companies engaging in or profiting from the State of Israel’s apartheid regime and…immediately divest all funds so identified,” according to the News Virginian.

Attorney General Jason Miyares condemned UVA students’ attempt to demand divestment earlier this year.

“My earnest desire is for the Board of Visitors to explicitly reject and definitively repudiate the misguided attempt by the UVA student body to undermine the legitimacy of Israel,” Miyares stated at the time.

UVA students are not the only ones demanding divestment from their school.

Earlier this month, the New School’s student government halted funding for all student groups to pressure the university into divesting from Israel. As a result, the school administration took control of the University State Senate’s funds, as previously reported by The College Fix.

Similarly, the University of Michigan’s student government president blocked funding for all student groups as part of a campaign to pressure the university into divesting from Israel.

However, the university administration has vetoed the decision and restored the funding for the fall semester.

Meanwhile, San Francisco State University recently announced plans to withdraw its investments from companies operating in Israel following months of discussions with pro-Palestinian student activists calling for divestment.

MORE: Brown U. trustee resigns over divestment vote: ‘Morally reprehensible’

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