Arkansas, 23 other states say Brown University divestment proposal will trigger pro-Israel laws

Demonstrators supporting Palestinians in Gaza barricade themselves inside Hamilton Hall, an academic building at Columbia University which has been occupied in past student movements, on April 30, 2024, in New York City. (Alex Kent/Getty Images)

Twenty-four state attorneys general, led by Arkansas’ Tim Griffin, are urging Brown University to reject a proposal for the Rhode Island school to divest from certain companies that do business with Israel.

The proposal, “Brown Divest Now,” triggers anti-boycott, divestment and sanction (BDS) laws in several states that prohibit contracting with, investing in or doing business with companies and entities that discriminate against Israel, Griffin wrote in a letter Monday to Brown University trustees and fellows.

“We urge the Brown University Corporation to reject this antisemitic and unlawful proposal that stems from the violent threats against Jewish students at Brown last spring,” the letter states.

The proposal comes from Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that Griffin’s letter alleges is linked to entities designated by the United States government as foreign terrorist organizations.

Griffin notes in the letter that nearly three-quarters of the states have BDS laws and that Arkansas’ law, which has survived federal court challenges, is “among those aggressively combating antisemitic conduct.”

Brown University President Christina Paxson, who has rejected previous efforts since at least 2012 to divest from Israel-supporting entities, has said the Brown Divest Now proposal will be on the corporation’s October agenda and that a vote will be held.

“If adopted, the Brown Divest Now proposal will have immediate and profound legal consequences,” Griffin’s letter says.

According to the letter, the proposal would have Brown divest from companies including Textron, Safariland, Volvo Group, Airbus, Boeing, General Dynamics, General Electric, Motorola and RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon and United Technologies) because they do business with Israel.

Act 710 of 2017 prohibits the state of Arkansas, its agencies, and its colleges and universities from contracting with or investing in any entity engaged in a boycott of Israel. The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the statute against a challenge brought in Arkansas Times LP v. Waldrip .

Joining Griffin in the letter are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.