On April 29th, 2025, by way of a peaceful protest, students shut down the Carleton Board of Governors meeting to demand that divestment immediately be put back on the table. Campus Safety Services violently and indiscriminately brutalized them in response, deliberately shoving the students into one another and onto the ground with no regard for their safety. At one point, they yanked the clothes covering off a protester so violently that it knocked them onto the ground, with Campus Safety blocking all attempts of other protestors to help. At no point did Campus Safety properly discuss anything with student liaisons, even when instructed to and rather shoved the liaisons out of the way while the members of the Board of Governors idly watched.

This immediate and unnecessary escalation in force against Palestinian protestors is not new. It is only one instance in a long history of brutality. Even in the face of violence, however, we will continue to fight against the genocide of the Palestinian people and for the immediate divestment from any and all complicit companies. We will not let their violence silence us.

On April 9th, Carleton University’s VP Finance, Duane McNair, sent the Carleton for Palestine Coalition an email stating that divestment from companies complicit in the Gaza genocide, as well as other human rights violations, posed too much of a financial risk to the university. Despite the fact that the United Nations Principles on Responsible Investments specifically outline that negative exclusions are a necessary part of responsible investments, the university chose to reject the motion entirely on baseless grounds. Send an email to Carleton’s Board of Governors and Campus Safety Services to show solidarity with the students, condemn the enabling of violence to suppress them and state our demands for divestment.