A group of students protested former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Tuesday talk with a ‘die-in.’ The group handed out fliers in the hallway following the talk, which cited Israeli responses to terrorist attacks and Desmond Tutu’s 2002 article lamenting the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank. The humanitarian and security situation have improved on the ground in recent years, Olmert said in his talk. The protesters refused to discuss the details of their objections with a reporter other than to clarify that their purpose was not anti-Semitic and that they were not representing Real Talk. The protesters left the room chanting “one, two, three, four, occupation no more, five, six, seven, eight, Israel apartheid state.” After the protestors left, Olmert wondered aloud what such protesters would do once peace is reached and pointed out a paradox in the attacks launched against him — he has been criticized for his willingness to compromise in his efforts to broker peace with Palestinians as well as for excessive use of violence.
An anti-divestment student group has been founded in the midst of a growing debate over Yale University’s endowment investment in the fossil fuel industry, the Yale Daily News reported. The Yale College Council will hold a campus-wide referendum on the topic from Nov. 17 to Nov. 20 by. Students for a Strong Endowment, which has 15 to 20 members, submitted an anti-divestment statement to the YCC’s referendum website on Friday, in rebuttal to a pro-divestment statement submitted by the existing group Fossil Free Yale claiming that the school had a moral obligation to divest. Students for a Strong Endowment argues that divesting would risk long-term financial stability of the University and affect funding for its financial aid program, faculty and research for a political cause. Several months earlier, Fossil Free Yale submitted a petition to YCC with 1,374 signatures in favor of divestment. Despite some student support of divestment in the past year, administrators at both Harvard University and Brown University decided not divest endowment investments to take action.
