Antiwar protesters’ calls for divestment at universities put spotlight on how endowments are managed

By THALIA BEATY
Associated Press

One of the demands of antiwar protestors on college campuses is for their schools to divest their endowments from companies that are profiting from Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Endowments are the holdings and investments that universities and some nonprofits manage as a kind of perpetual savings account. Georges Dyer is the executive director of the Intentional Endowments Network, which helps nonprofits align their endowments with their mission and to make their investments sustainable. He says that despite the pressure that student protestors are putting on the leadership of their schools, few of their member institutions are talking about divestment in this context.