Students at the University of Texas at Dallas have been protesting for days demanding that the school divest from many of these companies, but is it that simple?
RICHARDSON, Texas — Protesters demanding divestment from companies with ties to Israel and the Gaza war have been active on the University of Texas at Richardson's Dallas campus for several days, with some arrested early Wednesday. and tensions are rising.
The protesting students are specifically demanding that the university system divest from five companies: Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop and Raytheon Technologies. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are defense contractors, Northrop is an aerospace and defense technology company, General Dynamics is an arms contractor, and Boeing supplies the country with many fighter jets.
The amount invested by UT System in each company is as follows
- boeing38 shares, valued at $8,452.
- general dynamics, 2,147 shares, valued at $486,503.
- lockheed martin, 2,185 shares worth $979,836.
- northrop company 3,206 shares valued at $1.39 million
- raytheon, technology 6,795 shares worth $584,622.
However, these are not the only companies that UT System has invested in with ties to Israel; there are two others:
- black rockThe 8,557 shares are valued at nearly $6 million.
- exxon mobil73,389 shares worth $8.16 million.
BlackRock has invested in many of the companies listed above, and ExxonMobil supplies Israel with fuel for its fighter jets.
The total investment in these seven companies is approximately $17.6 million. This represents about 1% of the UT System's total investment in the Permanent University Endowment, approximately $1.73 billion.
The fund also shows that the UT System holds $396,821 in debt securities payable to Israel in 2060.
However, divestment is not a simple or easy process.
Universities typically invest in large collections of companies rather than individual stocks. However, schools have previously withdrawn from companies with ties to South Africa during the apartheid era and from fossil fuel companies.
