For more than a year, members of Students for Justice in Palestine have been working to alter how the USF Foundation oversees the school's $391 million endowment, asking for three things: more transparency, a socially just and ethical investment plan, and divestment from companies they say commit human rights violations in the West Bank.The group collected over 10,000 signatures on a petition calling for the changes, and presented it earlier this month to Foundation leadership. However, at a meeting of the Foundation's investment committee, what was proposed instead was a motion that no divestments be made at any group's request and that the investment process not be politicized.
USF Students for Justice in Palestine President Ahmad Saadaldin was disappointed with the outcome, saying the committee ignored the focus of the petition.
"You know, they kept saying, 'We don't want to politicize our investments', and they just ignored the petition's a human rights petition, so they're basically saying, 'Don't talk about our investments', I don't know, 'Don't make it about human rights'", said Saadaldin.
While this effectively ends their current effort, Saadaldin says his group will still try to make their voices heard at next week's USF Foundation Board of Trustees meeting.