As a unified community of students, faculty, staff, and individuals at the University of Houston, and, more broadly, the Houston community as a whole, we unanimously call on the University of Houston to listen to its students, lead in the movement against militarism and endless war, and Divest From Death today!

Each year, the University of Houston pours millions of dollars into 5 of the largest arms manufacturers in the world: Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Electric, and Boeing. These companies are complicit in some of the worst human rights violations and acts of state violence across the globe - from Palestine, to the Philippines, to Yemen, to Afghanistan, to U.S. police and ICE forces at the border, and beyond. We, a grassroots movement of students and youth, refuse to profit from Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes, Saudi Arabia’s destruction of hospitals during a pandemic in Yemen, or the militarized police and border patrol in the U.S., which tear families apart and terrorize Black and Brown communities. So long as our university funds oppression, we are one step further from freedom as a whole and less safe on campus. We know that our safety comes from solidarity, and in pursuit of our collective freedom as marginalized peoples, we call upon the University of Houston to take action against unjust occupation, militarized police, and endless war at home and abroad: divest its endowment from the 5 biggest arms manufacturers today!

Our demands are as follows:
1. Divest from the 5 largest arms manufacturers in the world (Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and General Electric)

2. Freeze any new investments in these 5 companies immediately

3. Create open communication between students and the Endowment Management

4.Committee (EMC) to develop a Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) screening that prevents investment in companies complicit in militarism at home and abroad

As students paying tuition, we have a say in where and how our university spends its endowment. As the second most diverse university in the nation, we demand that the University of Houston adopt a budget that centers our people and communities over the university’s profit. If we do not accept the militarization of U.S. police, Israel’s military occupation of Palestine, or the endless bombing of Yemen, then we cannot justify our university profiting from it.

Therefore, as students and community members committed to advancing our collective freedom in Palestine, occupied Turtle Island (the U.S.), the Philippines, Latin America, and alongside all those resisting militarism in our homelands, we call on the University of Houston to DIVEST FROM DEATH TODAY!