UPDATE (April 25th)

On Monday, April 22nd at 6:40 AM, Yale and New Haven police arrested students, graduate workers, staff, and New Haveners on charges of criminal trespass in the first degree with only one warning—all for peacefully protesting Yale's investments in weapons manufacturers and demanding disclosure and divestment. Peter Salovey lied publicly about the number of arrests—initially claiming 60 were arrested—to give credence to a false "outside agitator" narrative, further pushed by Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis. In reality, 44 students and one Yale staff member were arrested, out of the 48 total.

Yale would rather arrest its own students and community members than divest from military weapons manufacturers whose products have killed over 30,000 Palestinians and destroyed hundreds of educational institutions. Meanwhile, New Haven public school libraries are underfunded and without staff—while Yale dodges hundreds of millions in city taxes each year.

Help tell the trustees of the Yale Corporation: we demand money for New Haven and education, not for genocide and occupation. Drop the charges—disclose and divest, don't arrest!

ORIGINAL MESSAGE

The Yale Corporation—the seventeen trustees that make up the University's governing board—will convene on campus this weekend. Join students, faculty, New Haven community members in demanding that the Corporation publicly commit to divesting from military weapons manufacturing or show proof that the topic was discussed at length by Sunday. Yale must end its complicity in Israel's genocidal war on Palestine.

Yale refuses to disclose how much of its $40 billion endowment—worth more than 90 countries' annual GDP—is invested in weapons. Public SEC filings show that Yale holds millions of dollars invested in index funds with exposure to weapons manufacturers like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon (RTX), and the Adani Group that make the bombs, planes, drones, and weapons used in Israel's assault on Gaza.

SEC filings are only the tip of the iceberg: over 99% of Yale's endowment is routed through shell companies overseen by Wall Street hedge fund managers who center weapons and war in their investing strategies, too. Farallon Capital—launched with seed funding from Yale in the 1990s—invests in Howmet Aerospace which forms the "backbone" of Israel's F-35s. JLL Partners owns Jonathan Engineered Solutions, a key supplier for General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin. Insight Partners funds weapons-minded startups that brag about "maximizing lethality." The ubiquity of military corporations in the American economy implies that billions more in Yale's endowment are likely further tied to weapons.

Our community refuses to let Yale make our education in New Haven contingent on death and destruction abroad. Tell the Corporation: divest from military weapons now.