In the hallowed halls of Brown University, echoing whispers of intellectual giants past—a more current, geopolitical tempest brews. Joseph Edelman, a trustee and the steward of the university's hedge fund, has tendered his resignation—a thunderous protest against Brown's impending vote to divest from Israel due to the ongoing Gaza war.
In a caustic op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Edelman, a Jewish billionaire whose fortune was forged in the crucible of hedge funds, denounces the university's "indifference to the rising tide of antisemitism on campus and the burgeoning political movement bent on the annihilation of the State of Israel."
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pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia
(Photo: Spencer Platt / Getty Images North America / AFP)
Edelman, who stood as a bulwark of financial acumen, decries the moral vacuum he perceives in Brown's leadership. "In the aftermath of the gravest assault on the Jewish people since the Holocaust," he writes, "it is unconscionable for Brown to entertain such a vote. I view the willingness to proceed as a staggering failure of moral leadership. I refuse to lend my name or my time to an institution bereft of basic moral judgment."
This October's vote on retracting all university investments in Israel was brokered as part of a détente between the administration and student activists, who had erected a pro-Palestinian encampment on the Rhode Island campus. As the ink dried on an agreement forged in April, a committee comprising students, faculty, and alumni emerged, championing divestment. Their recommendations will soon face the scrutiny of Brown's Board of Trustees, helmed by Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.
The prospect of divestment has sent ripples of unease through the national consciousness, prompting missives from 24 state attorneys general, who last month cautioned that Brown might find itself ensnared in economic sanctions should it choose to divest, thus flouting statutes that proscribe discrimination against Israel. Critics of the motion assert that this gambit, aimed at companies with robust Israeli ties, risks injecting political calculus into the stewardship of Brown's $6 billion endowment.
Edelman, in his column, dismisses any pretense of principled decision-making, arguing that "Brown's choice to hold a divestment vote wasn't predicated on facts or values but rather on a capitulation to activist students. The university's leadership inexplicably opted to reward, rather than reprimand, those who disrupted campus life, flouted school laws, and propagated violence and antisemitism."
"How Can Brown Trust Antisemitic Voices?"
Edelman further castigates the institution for what he perceives as its capitulation to pro-terror, Hamas, and BDS sympathizers on campus. "It is no coincidence," he writes, "that the groups leading the boycott against Israel are entwined with terrorist organizations seeking the obliteration of the Jewish people. Ultimately, this is the BDS movement's objective, and I cannot condone treating a hate movement as legitimate or worthy of engagement. Brown's appeasement strategy is doomed to fail. It capitulates to the very hatred that begot the Holocaust and the unspeakable horrors of October 7."
He poses a searing question: "How can Brown trust these antisemitic voices, which began championing violence against Jews even before Israel responded to the October 7 attack? It is as if Brown's board agreed to vote on Israel's right to defend itself, on Israel's right to exist, and indeed on the Jews' right to exist."
Edelman, whose spouse is an alumna of the university, has served as a trustee since 2019 and was expected to conclude his tenure in two years' time. His profile vanished from the university's website following his resignation.
Edelman's wealth, estimated at $2.5 billion, places him at 1,345th on Forbes' list of the world's wealthiest. He is also noted for his activism against transgender rights. An investigation by the Huffington Post earlier this year revealed that the family foundation he established, the Edelman Foundation, is the chief benefactor of Do No Harm, an organization opposing educational initiatives addressing racism in public schools and gender transition treatments for minors. This donation was described in tax filings as intended "to safeguard the healthcare system from extreme, divisive, and discriminatory ideology."
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Sayles Hall on the campus of Brown University, in Providence, R.I
(Photo: Steven Senne/AP/ File)
In the realm of divestment, Brown is not alone. San Francisco State University (SFSU) recently divested from three defense contractors—Lockheed Martin, Leonardo, and Palantir Technologies—as well as construction equipment giant Caterpillar, due to their dealings with the Israeli Defense Ministry. In doing so, it became the first American university to execute such a precedent-setting move, following pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
According to the university's statement, its $163 million investment portfolio was updated "to align with new human rights standards proposed by a student and administration workgroup." Pro-Palestinian groups hailed the groundbreaking decision as a "significant victory" aimed at "ensuring that investments reflect the university's values in human rights and social justice." The revised policy will receive final approval in December, but its implementation is already underway.
Earlier in May, the Union Theological Seminary of Columbia University (UTS) announced the withdrawal of all its investments in Israel, acceding to the demands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators on campus. This made it the first academic institution to enact such a measure in response to a wave of protests across campuses, calling for divestment from companies that "profit from the genocide in the Gaza Strip," as protesters put it.