A motion to recommend Carleton University disclose its financial investments and divest from companies and institutions contributing to human rights violations in armed conflicts failed during an Oct. 18 senate meeting.
The motion stalled with 20 votes in favour and 32 votes against.
Student senator Nir Hagigi put forward the motion as four silent protestors stood at the sides of the senate room.
Wearing keffiyehs, the protesters held signs reading “CU later or divest now,” “Carleton University you have blood on your hands,” “Money for health and education, not for arms and genocide” and “Be on the right side of history.”
Hagigi first introduced a motion on disclosure and divestment during a June 7 senate meeting, before senators postponed the matter to a Sept. 27 meeting.
At the Sept. 27 meeting, Hagigi asked to make amendments to change wording and content in his motion before voting. The first amendment was moved and the second was defeated before the matter was postponed.
Hagigi then withdrew his motion with plans to submit a new one in October.
On Sept. 27, senators received a technical briefing on Carleton’s investments from Angela Marcotte, Carleton’s vice-president finance and administration.
The briefing explained the legal and regulatory obligations for pension management in Ontario, including the fiduciary responsibilities of the Board of Governors and the pension committee.
Marcotte said at the September meeting that it is a legal obligation that all financial considerations comply with fiduciary duty, meaning to achieve the best financial results.
Hagigi said weapons-free investments can still be fiscally beneficial, highlighting that the top 25 funds listed on Weapons Free Funds are outperforming Carleton’s current investment portfolio.
In response to Hagigi’s motion, several senators said financial matters are not the senate’s business.
At the October meeting, senator and communications professor Josh Greenberg said weighing in on the university’s investments and endowments is “beyond [senate’s] jurisdiction and scope of expertise.”
“Carleton should not have a foreign policy, and neither should senate,” Greenberg said.
Senator Howard Nemiroff, interim dean of the Sprott School of Business, also said he believed the motion to divest was not a matter of the senate.
“There are those in this room who feel very strongly about Palestinian self-determination and equally those who feel very strongly about Israel’s right to exist and defend itself,” Nemiroff said. “I personally believe in both, but that’s not senate’s business.”
However, senator and architecture professor Ozayr Saloojee said the issue does impact the Carleton community’s academics.
“I’m sure that many of my colleagues and staff have deep connections to many parts of the world where these investments have real, material implications,” Saloojee said, adding the implications also directly impact students.
Saloojee told the senate he is currently advising three students who have lost family members in Ramallah and Lebanon.
“It’s not abstract,” he said. “It actually impacts their scholarship, it impacts their learning and it impacts their time on campus.”
The Board of Governors is due to review Carleton’s responsible investing policy in March 2025.
Senator and history professor Laura Madokoro said now is an “opportune moment” for the senate to make recommendations about that policy, its language and its principles.
“Within that policy it states very explicitly that some of the important strategic priorities for the university include climate change, Indigenous rights and human rights,” she said. “Human rights. We are witnessing gross human rights violations globally and in Gaza on a daily basis.”
“We are at a moment in history where we can change course and think differently about our investments,” said senator and sociology professor Azar Masoumi. “It is indeed possible to have ethical investments.”
“For example, we are not, and I don’t think we should, fund the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Masoumi said. “What we are doing, is funding the genocide in Gaza, in Palestine and now Lebanon.”
This concurs with information from a leaked document obtained by the Charlatan in June, which alleges Carleton invested more than $2 million in four companies tied to Israeli settlement activity on occupied Palestinian territory.
Senator and international studies professor Sean Burges raised concerns about identifying a single conflict and set of principles through the motion.
Hagigi responded by pointing out that only the motion’s preamble mentions the Israel-Palestine conflict, not the motion itself.
“This [motion] is just recommending that the university is not invested in companies that are against international humanitarian law or contributing to those laws being broken,” Hagigi said.
A Campus Safety Services special constable was also present outside the senate room for the duration of the meeting.
Senate is scheduled to meet again on Nov. 29.
Featured image by Cassandra Bellefeuille/The Charlatan.
