U of San Francisco Divests From Four Defense Contractors

College leaders overwhelmingly rejected divestment demands from pro-Palestinian protesters last spring, but at the University of San Francisco, demonstrators won a rare concession last week.

USF announced it will divest from four U.S. companies with ties to the Israeli military, KQED reported: Palantir, L3Harris, GE Aerospace and RTX Corporation. 

USF plans to sell off direct investments in those companies by June 1.

“After several months of careful consideration, the University of San Francisco is updating the policies that shape its investment practices and making changes to its endowment holdings,” a USF spokesperson told KQED. “These decisions were reached with input from USF’s Socially Responsible Task Force, made up of a representative group of students, faculty and staff.”

The four companies reportedly account for less than half a percent of USF’s investment portfolio.

The concession is a rare win for pro-Palestinian protesters. Multiple universities agreed to consider divestment in agreements with protesters last spring, but Brown University, Wesleyan University and others ultimately rejected divestment from Israel or weapons manufacturers.

Across town from USF, San Francisco State University has also made changes to how it invests endowment holdings, adding new screening policies. SFSU announced last fall it will avoid investing in companies that make 5 percent or more of revenue from weapons manufacturing.