The University of Maine System board of trustees will not divest financially from Israel, the board's chair announced in a letter Friday. The decision came after students petitioned the university and the board held a special session on the issue last week.
The petition had signatures from sixteen student organizations and almost 560 individual staff members and students across the system asking trustees to end investment in Israeli companies and any U.S.-based companies doing business with or in Israel.
The six demands outlined included ending academic ties with Israel, acknowledgment of the tragedy in Palestine, and adopting the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism.
Board Chair Trish Riley said in a statement to the petition organizers, "There was consensus among our committee that to take a position on your demands would effectively shut down opportunities for conversation — including about the horrors of the conflict in the Middle East and elsewhere — and in doing so, undermine our educational mission."
Riley said it was not the role of the trustees to take a position on matters of foreign policy.
On its Instagram, the UMaine Jewish Voices for Peace student group said they will continue to attend Board meetings to voice support for divestment.
