As an institution of higher education, the University of Cincinnati has a responsibility to support students’ present and future well-being. Instead, the university threatens to destroy our future by retaining financial investments in companies whose actions are detrimental to our growth and success. Through its investments in the military-industrial complex and Big Oil, the University of Cincinnati effectively supports genocide, human rights abuses, and ecological destruction.

Israel has perpetrated a genocide for over a year through a campaign of carpet bombing, manufactured famine, and destruction of public infrastructure with the backing of the United States. The number of Palestinians killed likely exceeds the official count of 44,493 (as of November 13, 2024) and may be as high as 186,000 or more.

Israel’s genocidal intent has been evident since the early days of the siege in October 2023, but human rights abuses have been a part of Israel’s settler-colonial occupation of Palestine for over 76 years. The United States has continued to pledge support for Israel as the Zionist entity has ignored a series of rulings from the International Court of Justice and the United Nations, including an intermediary ruling from the Hague in January 2024 to prevent genocide and the United Nations’ more recent resolution that Israel must withdraw from territories illegally occupied since 1967.

Israeli officials have used genocidal rhetoric since the beginning of the siege on Gaza, calling Palestinians “human animals” among other dehumanizing remarks. More recently, Israel admitted intent to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza. Raz Segal, a professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University, described Israel’s military offensive in Gaza as a “textbook case of genocide unfolding in front of our eyes” in a Jewish Currents article published on October 13, 2023.

Since October 7, 2023, the United States has provided at least $17.9 billion of military aid to Israel, totalling $251.2 billion since 1959. If the United States were to impose an immediate arms embargo, Israel would not be capable of continuing its military campaign, as the United States provided 69 percent of Israel’s arms imports in 2023. Instead, the United States has prioritized the profits of American weapons manufacturers such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and General Electric, among others. Israel has continued to escalate regional warfare, as attacks on hospitals and other civilian targets in Lebanon—resulting in at least 3,100 deaths—threaten a second genocidal campaign.

We, the undersigned, refuse to view the ongoing genocide as an isolated instance or distant tragedy. We know our humanity is tied to the humanity of the millions of people suffering in Palestine and Lebanon, and that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

As of April 2024, Israel had polluted the environment with at least 75,000 tons of explosives.

While we do not know the full extent of the University of Cincinnati’s complicity in genocide (and thus, below, discuss our demand for disclosure), some of the University’s relationships with the military-industrial complex are public. Last year, the University of Cincinnati announced a partnership with Thales to contribute research to “national defense, space exploration and aeronautics,” including militarized artificial intelligence. Thales collaborates with Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems through joint ownership of UAS Tactical Systems (U-TacS) and the manufacture of Watchkeeper drones.

The University of Cincinnati claims to champion environmental sustainability, but there is no climate justice as long as bombs and missiles pollute the air, water, and soil with chemical waste and debris. Israel uses deliberate ecocide as a weapon of colonization and genocide: through the destruction of agricultural land and the contamination of water, Israel’s attacks intensify the ongoing famine in Gaza and threaten the health of the land for generations to come. There is no climate justice as long as Palestine burns.

Instead of supporting Palestinian schools, our university is actively participating in scholasticide. The University of Cincinnati should be putting its money toward helping its students afford necessities such as housing, textbooks, and classes, and should invest in companies committed to education, human rights, and environmental stewardship to build a better future for students instead of funding the destruction of academia. Taking accountability for this violence should include financing the sharing of knowledge and helping to rebuild places of education.

As we have the privilege to continue pursuing our own higher education, 625,000 students in Palestine have no access to education. According to the United Nations, all 12 universities of Gaza, 13 public libraries, and over 500 schools have been bombed, killing at least 5,479 students, 261 teachers and 95 university professors. These persistent attacks on places of learning mean that many will grow up without the education that they deserve.

We, the undersigned, therefore demand:

• Call for a Ceasefire
  We demand that the University of Cincinnati release an official statement calling for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire that acknowledges Israel’s actions as genocidal.

• Disclosure
  We demand that the University of Cincinnati immediately disclose its entire investment portfolio, including, but not limited to, all of its financial investments in companies that profit off the ongoing genocide and contribute to environmental degradation. We demand that the University of Cincinnati disclose all financial investments in companies connected to the military-industrial complex, including, but not limited to, Big Oil, defense contractors, and logistics companies.

• Divestment
  We demand that the University of Cincinnati immediately divest from, and prohibit future financial investment in, companies connected to the military-industrial complex, including, but not limited to, Big Oil, defense contractors, and logistics companies.

Notably, Ohio Revised Code Section 9.76 prohibits state universities from divesting from Israel. While we find this law unethical, we have thus phrased our demands to avoid direct mention of Israel and demand divestment from companies that contribute to and profit from genocide. We support future initiatives for legislative change and future divestment from Israel.

Students deserve to know where their money is going, especially if it is funding a genocide. The University of Cincinnati is a public university and thus operates with taxpayer funds; the public should be privy to where their funds are going, especially in a university that consistently underfunds many of its academic programs, faculty, employees, and students.

We stand in solidarity with Palestine and all oppressed peoples around the world.