After almost a year of students and community members demanding that Washington University cut ties with and divest from aerospace company Boeing, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Scott Wilson stated on Sept. 4 that, to the best of his knowledge, the University is not invested in the company at all. This statement was repeated by Chancellor Andrew Martin at the joint Senate and Treasury Student Union (SU) meeting on Sept. 10.

A Washington University Student Union (SU) referendum to divest from Boeing failed to reach the required two-thirds of “yes” votes in order to pass, May 9. Out of 2,661 student voters, 61.59% voted in favor of the referendum, and the remaining 38.41% voted against. 

About 25 pro-Palestine protesters gathered outside Washington University Chancellor Andrew Martin’s house on Forsyth Boulevard waving flags and chanting, May 2nd.

“The WUIMC has a fiduciary responsibility to make decisions that are financially, ethically, and legally dubious (to put it nicely). The WUIMC will only seek to profit from the violation of basic human rights and dignity when the Chancellor deems it ‘socially responsible’ to do so.”

Around 250 Washington University students and community members staged a pro-Palestine march from Forest park to Olin Library and set up an encampment just outside the library before moving it to the East End of campus, April 27.

Instead of acknowledging WashU’s continued inaction on its students’ desires, Martin makes no meaningful distinction between the protesters’ political goals and the environment that enabled the egging incident.

In an environment where discussions about justice are as pressing and urgent as ever, activists fighting for their causes need to invite as many people into the conversation as possible. Doing so should involve convincing people why they should care, not admonishing them for their complacency.

Protesters shut down an admitted students event as part of a pro-Palestine demonstration calling on Washington University officials to divest from Boeing. As a result, the Washington University Police Department issued 10 protesters court summons for trespassing, disturbing the peace, and refusing to disperse, April 13. 

The only substantive effect this resolution might have is intimidating and alienating Jewish students on our campus, and it is this effect that we can and must resist.

In a meeting attended by nearly 200 total students, Student Union (SU) Senate passed a resolution 15 to 5 with one abstention, via an unprecedented anonymous vote, calling on Washington University to divest from and cut professional ties with Boeing, March 19.