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CNN
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As pro-Palestinian protests continue to spread across major U.S. universities, a unifying message is emerging.
The same chant can be heard from Princeton University in New Jersey to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Dive best! We won't stop, we won't rest! ”
Signs surrounding the student camp on Columbia University's West Lawn display a similar message from the Columbia University Apartheid Divest Group, which reads: Palestine. ”
Israel denies the charges of genocide.
The details of student protesters' divestment demands vary in scope from school to school.
A coalition of Columbia universities wants the school to divest its $13.6 billion endowment. Companies with ties to Israel or profiting from the Israel-Hamas war. Protest leaders referred to the sale of stocks in major companies in their speeches.
Students at Cornell University and Yale University are calling on their schools to stop investing in weapons manufacturers.
Other common topics include requiring universities to disclose their investments, severing academic ties with Israeli universities, and supporting a ceasefire in Gaza.
So far, universities have largely refused to embark on such efforts, and some experts have questioned the effectiveness of such campaigns. However, students remain steadfast in their demands.
So what exactly are they looking for?
Its meaning: The concept of divestment seems very simple at face value. Investors or institutions sell their shares in a company to avoid participating in activities that are considered unethical or harmful.
The measure aims not only to reallocate funds to more ethical investments, but also to issue a public statement that can pressure companies and governments to change their policies.
There is a history of student activists targeting donations during demonstrations. In the 1980s, students succeeded in persuading Colombia to withdraw from apartheid South Africa.
Recently, Columbia University and other universities have divested from fossil fuels and private prisons.
However, a quick look inside reveals that things are not so simple. Critics argue that while divestments can be an effective expression of disapproval and calls for change, their actual impact on corporate behavior and market trends is more tenuous.
Stock price is stable: Witold Hennis, associate dean and dean of the Environmental, Social and Governance Initiative at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, told CNN that research has found little correlation between divestment campaigns and stock values or corporate behavior. He said he did.
Economists from the University of California System studied the impact of a widespread divestment movement on South Africa in the 1980s and found that stock prices had little effect.
The researchers hypothesized that the reason was that “the boycott was likely primarily due to the reallocation of stocks and business out of 'social responsibility'.” [investors] To more indifferent investors and countries. ”
Hennis said that by selling stock, you are essentially giving voice to someone who has little interest in the issue, giving up your own voice.
He said that while selling may feel good, it “could have sinister consequences.”
It's very rare that there are enough sellers and a small number of buyers to actually change the cost of capital, he added.
Supporters of divestment counter that its value lies in raising awareness and condemning targeted regimes and industry partnerships.
Untangling your interests: Investing in universities is much more complex today than it was in the 1980s. Many endowments are managed by asset management companies and invested in opaque private equity funds.
Nicholas Dirks, former president of the University of California, Berkeley, said, “The economy is now so globalized that even if a university decides to tell its dominant management team to leave Israel, it will disentangle itself.'' It would be almost impossible to do so.” .
Regarding calls for companies to divest from companies with ties to Israel: It's not clear to me whether that is the case,” Dirks said. .
How it ends: Still, college students at schools across the country say they will not stop protesting until university administrators meet their demands.
Negotiations between the Colombian government and student protesters have made progress but remain contentious.
But most Dirks, who is also a former associate dean of Columbia University's College of Arts and Sciences, said it's unlikely schools would agree to divestments or political statements. “People have a common goal, which is to allow students to be students and to allow faculty to play some governance role,” he said.
He said talks about reinstating suspended students and expunging their records are likely to be a negotiating point. “They're going to try to find a way to get students through their classes and graduate by the end of the year.”
Inflation may be coming down from multi-decade highs on both sides of the Atlantic, but progress has stalled in the United States, where the Federal Reserve is expected to start cutting interest rates well behind European countries. Yes, my colleague Anna Cuban reports.
The annual U.S. inflation rate, as measured by the Federal Reserve's recommended index of personal consumption expenditures, accelerated to 2.7% in March from 2.5% in February. The Fed aims to keep inflation at 2% over the long term.
The Consumer Price Index, another measure of inflation in the United States, has shown a similar upward trend, with the CPI in March rising 3.5% compared to the same month in 2023, up from a 3.2% rise in February.
Meanwhile, annual consumer price inflation in the 20 countries that use the euro has steadily slowed since the start of the year. In March, it was 2.4%.
Based on market expectations, the European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to start cutting interest rates in June, three months before the Fed is expected to start cutting rates.
There are even signs that the Fed may do something that would have been unthinkable until recently: raise borrowing costs. Federal Reserve President Michelle Bowman said earlier this month that she would support raising rates “if inflation stalls or reverses.”
So why does the US seem to have a bigger inflation problem than Europe?
Read here for more information.
Monday: Domino's Pizza revenue. Dallas Fed releases manufacturing activity for April.
Tuesday: Revenues from Amazon, Eli Lilly, Samsung, Coca-Cola, AMD, McDonald's, Starbucks, Mondelez, Mercedes-Benz Group, Volkswagen, PayPal, Adidas, Diamondback Energy, Restaurant Brands, Pinterest, and Caesars Entertainment. April Chicago PMI and Conference Board releases April Consumer Confidence.
Wednesday: Revenue from Mastercard, Qualcomm, Pfizer, Marriott, Estée Lauder, DoorDash, eBay, and Etsy. The US Department of Commerce has released statistics on new orders for durable goods for March. The Fed will announce its latest interest rate decisions, followed by a press conference with Chairman Jerome Powell.
Thursday: Revenues from Apple, Novo Nordisk, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Cigna, Universal Music Group, Live Nation, and DraftKings.
Friday: Revenue from Hershey. The U.S. Department of Labor released data for April measuring the job market, including monthly salary growth, wage growth, and the unemployment rate.
