Across the world, the question of divestment has come to the forefront of university politics. From April to July, the student encampment in solidarity with Palestine occupied McGill’s lower field, demanding the university to withdraw its investments from companies complicit in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. While President Deep Saini refused to divest from any company for so-called “geopolitical reasons,” he announced on June 18 that the university would be “exploring divestment from weapons manufacturers” irrespective of the location where the company operates. McGill’s defines weapons manufacturers as “companies that derive a dominant portion of their direct revenues from the production of military weapons.”
The commitment to exploring divestment from weapons companies comes as part of an offer that Saini claims to have made to representatives of the encampment.
“This decision was taken as a result of discussions with (members of the encampment and) the broader McGill community who have asked us to move forward with this commitment that reflects our values and reinforces inclusion, stability and cohesion within our campus,” McGill’s Media Relations Office (MRO) told the Daily in an email.
The MRO added that “The McGill community can be expected to be consulted on this issue in the fall.” In December, McGill’s Committee on Sustainability and Social Responsibility (CSSR) will compile a report exploring “the question of divestment” and present it to the Board of Governors. In addition to examining divestment, Saini pledged to fund two scholars “directly affected by the ongoing crisis in the Middle East,” and disclose McGill’s investments under $500,000, which were not previously disclosed.
Representatives of the encampment were not satisfied with this offer. In a statement by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) and Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) McGill and Concordia, the organizations declared that this offer “falls short of the student body’s clear demand for material change.” They believe that by delegating this responsibility to a committee, the administration is trying to use bureaucracy to delay taking action in the hope that students will forget. They also called out the hypocrisy of McGill’s promise to fund scholars at risk while the university continues to invest in companies supplying the weapons being used in Israel’s genocide.
Furthermore, these representatives allege that McGill did not approach their negotiations in good faith. They claim that the McGill administration did not show up to scheduled meetings, and messaged individual students as an attempt to seemingly isolate the representatives. McGill, on the other hand, stated that they have “made substantial offers on many occasions, yet encampment representatives have declared their demands non-negotiable.” When the Daily requested the administration’s internal correspondences regarding the negotiations process, the documents were withheld to “protect professional secrecy.”
Emily, a founding member of Students for Peace and Disarmament who was heavily involved in campaigns for divestment from weapons manufacturers and fossil fuels, echoed SPHR and IJV’s doubts. Emily is “pessimistic that McGill’s exploration of divestment from weapons manufacturers will lead to any meaningful change without students making it happen themselves.”
Investment in weapons manufacturers has long been a concern of McGill students, according to Emily. During the Vietnam War, students protested McGill’s involvement in weapon manufacturing, making it the only Canadian university on the CIA watchlist. In 1988, McGill imposed regulations on military-funded research, however these were repealed in 2009. In recent years, SSMU has passed both the Policy on Harmful Military Technology and the Divest for Human Rights Policy as a result of student advocacy, affirming their commitment to advocating for both divestment from weapons manufacturers and Israeli apartheid.
“Divestment from the military industrial complex cannot be separated from divestment in other instances, including in Palestine [and] other areas McGill is complicit in,” said Emily.
In November, the Daily reported that McGill invested at least $7 million in the top 100 arms-producing companies of 2022, most of which have ties to the Israeli military. As all investment amounts are now disclosed, the Daily found that investments in those same companies now exceed $10 million as of June 30 ($10,612,400), increasing by 29 per cent from June 2023 ($8,212,896.63).
Through Access to Information requests, the Daily has been able to track the exact amount invested in these arms-producing companies since June 2023, as shown in the graph. Investments in some companies, such as Moog, Thales, Dassault, and Airbus, have decreased since June 2023. However, investments in companies with clear ties to the Israeli Defence Force, such as BAE Systems and Textron, have increased by over 100 per cent.
The CSSR advises McGill’s Board of Governors on matters of social responsibility relating to their investments. They are responsible for assessing whether a legal entity causes “social injury,” which they define as activities that “violate or frustrate the enforcement of rules of domestic or international law intended to protect individuals against deprivation of health, safety, or basic freedoms, or to protect the natural environment.” However, the CSSR’s definition emphasizes that “a legal person shall not be deemed to cause “social injury” simply because it does business with other legal persons which are themselves engaged in socially injurious activities.” This definition could therefore exclude many institutions, such as banks with investments in weapons manufacturing, that students are calling on the university to divest from in addition to weapons manufacturers.
From their experience as a student organizer, Emily emphasized the importance for McGill students and community members calling for divestment from weapons manufacturers to continue to make their voices heard to the administration.
“Without pressure from a united McGill community, McGill’s “explorations” will get swept under the rug,” they warned.