The Economics of Student Protests

Over the last few weeks, university politics has captured headlines as students across the country occupy sections of their campuses and demand that their schools divest from Israel in protest of its contentious war in Gaza. Last week for Compact Magazine, Luigi and Nobel Laureate Oliver Hart stressed (www.compactmag.com/article/th...) that one lesson from these protests is that universities need to make transparent their investment strategies and how they contribute to the school’s financial operations, including financial aid.
Increased transparency can inform ethical debates about divestment, but can it solve them? Even if students get what they want, will it matter? Or should they be focusing their efforts elsewhere to maximize impact? Who gets to make the decisions about the ethics of college endowment investments, and how should votes be divided between different stakeholders - students, faculty, alumni, and donors? This week on Capitalisn’t, Bethany and Luigi record a late-breaking episode tackling these foundational questions that underlie the governance of today's universities.

[@camillecruzfit]

This interview with a student after a chaotic night with police and while still holding the line against them is why U of Chicago is seen as such a stellar academic institution…If he’s suspended or charged with criminal trespassing the faculty should have his back. He is the best advertisement for your University’s ability to create critical thinking and ethical citizens…DIVEST and get a new President. Cal Berkeley and Stanford have handled these protests 100 percent better. Of course at Stanford, the Grandmas are in the encampments also🤓 San Francisco State’s President has visited the encampment there and held open meetings to the public and agreed to have transparency in their investment portfolios. My older son is graduating from UCSC and they would rather call in Netanyahu himself than riot police…peaceful kids and lots of teach ins going on with faculty and speakers. My younger son at Cal Poly Humboldt had a complete disaster of this semester. Small group had a sit in in the admin bldg….which they have historically done before since Vietnam War protests. New President called in the riot police and the kids barricaded themselves in the bldg. campus shut completely down…classes cancelled, graduation on campus cancelled. 2 weeks standoff ending with a caravan of officers driving 300 miles from San Francisco. It was only then that I found out the President who gets paid almost $600,000.00 a year…has lived in Southern CA over 500 miles away and hadn’t been on campus for months! A seasoned high school principal could have holed up with those kids in a sleeping bag and listened and made some concessions that made them feel like they had some power for constructive change. Absolutely insane that college presidents aren’t on campuses. It’s like the university is a corporation like a hedge fund offering classes on the side for extra $🤨 kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6fGfayeh5yNoacsi=D8uN4dlYHKM7t9UU