We call upon the university to divest from companies that manufacture guns and ammunition. No university should ever fund an industry that profits from violence against its students, as the gun industry does.

This year gun violence will become the leading killer of young people, deeply affecting Boston University’s current and prospective students. Your guidelines for divestment require “a degree of social harm that is clearly unacceptable.” Twenty American children each day are admitted to hospitals with gun shot wounds. Over 30,000 Americans are killed each year with guns. Since the tragedy at Sandy Hook School in 2012 there have been over 100 school shootings. This is social harm that is clearly unacceptable.

As an institution of higher education, Boston University has a moral obligation to take a stand against gun violence. One of our most treasured alumni, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is himself a victim of gun violence. To honor his memory and the memories of all those killed by a firearm we must divest university funds from the gun industry.