UConn Divest protests UConn’s ties to companies involved in Gaza genocide

The UConn Divest Coalition protested the University of Connecticut’s ties to companies involved in the genocide in Gaza outside Gulley Hall on Monday. After marching over from outside the Homer Babbidge Library at 12 p.m., the protestors waited for UConn president Radenka Maric until she left the building at 5 p.m. 

The protest began with a brief speech by Nell Srinath, a UConn alumnus who graduated in 2024.  

Srinath read out UConn Divest demands, stating, “The reason we’re out here is not really for these policies […] but for the liberation of Palestine,” before marching with members of the UConn Divest Coalition to Gulley Hall to demand a meeting with Maric. 

This was their second rally of the semester. At the previous rally, the use of amplified sound was restricted from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. during the week and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the weekend. Outdoor activities were barred from disrupting other outdoor activities in a different policy. Srinath did not initially use amplified sound in their speech. 

UConn Divest’s demands are to end UConn’s relationship with companies in the military industrial complex and to sever ties to Israel, according to their Instagram account. 

“I want to stress that the policy stuff- the new policy stuff, we see it as a diversion from the real issue here, which is that UConn is complicit in violence and mass atrocity,” said UConn Divest member Ashten Vassar-Cain. 

“Diseases, like the polio virus had been consigned to history in the Gaza Strip. They’ve now reappeared due to the collapse of essential services,” said the UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza. Over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, she stated, according to the United Nations website. 

At UConn’s Career Fair and STEM Career Fair, held Tuesday and yesterday, RTX, Lockheed Martin, Leonardo DRS and General Dynamics were present, according to employer lists on Handshake. One of UConn Divest’s demands, listed on Instagram, is to ban these companies recruiting at UConn sponsored events, including career fairs. 

UConn Divest wrote in an Instagram story on Tuesday, “How many tables are you giving to companies that are killing Palestinians?” 

“The transfer of weapons and ammunition to Israel may constitute serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian laws and risk State complicity in international crimes, possibly including genocide, UN experts said,” according to a press release by the United Nation Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner.  

The press release specifically named General Dynamics, RTX and Lockheed Martin, and called on them to end weapons transfers to Israel. Leonardo DRS was not explicitly mentioned in the press release, though all companies supplying arms to Israel were told to end transfers, even if they had existing export licenses. 

General Dynamics is the largest employer of UConn students, with Pratt and Whitney in fifth, and Raytheon Technologies in ninth, according to the UConn careers website. 

Defense companies also fund some of UConn’s research facilities, according to the UConn website. The Pratt and Whitney Manufacturing Center was built with a $14.8 million investment, the Pratt and Whitney Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering was built with a $67.1 million investment, the Collins Aerospace Center for Advanced Materials was built with a $5.7 million investment, the National Institute for Undersea Vehicle Technology was built with a $80 million investment and the Project Daedalus Air Force Advanced Manufacturing Initiative was built with a $28.6 million investment. 

UConn Divest has also demanded the resignation of Bryan Pollard, a Board of Trustees member who works as an Associate General Counsel for RTX according to UConn Today, due to “gross conflict of interest.” At Monday’s protest, Srinath reiterated calls for Pollard’s resignation due to an alleged conflict of interest when he voted to rename Science 1 Research Lab after RTX. 

The protestors called for disclosure of the UConn Foundation’s investments, which are not required to be disclosed because they are a registered private non-profit, according to a UConn Foundation website. 

“We all feel like we’re far away from the problem, being here, being in Connecticut, being students who have the privilege of going to university, but we’re not far from the problem when our university and our state are contributing to the problem and selling weapons to the Israeli military,” said Vassar-Cain. 

The students were also there to protest the new policies and demanded on Instagram that Maric had “call on the office of the state’s attorney to drop all charges against all persons arrested in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” where 25 students and one alumnus were arrested. 

After knocking and ringing the door multiple times, Srinath briefly used a megaphone. 

“Radenka, Radenka, you can’t hide, protesting is not a crime. Radenka, Radenka, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” chanted students. 

Protesters drew chalk messages on the ground outside and directly on the building. 

Vice President for Student Life & Enrollment Nathan Fuerst and Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Anne D’Alleva sent a letter to the group this morning, stating that they will not be meeting with the group again due to chalk drawings and fliers spread with images they called “examples of grotesque and unacceptable antisemitism.” 

“In multiple instances during the demonstration UConn’s president, Radenka Maric, who is Jewish, was depicted on fliers and in drawings as having protruding “horns” on her head, and as a swine,” the letter said. “Whether the authors of these images were aware of it or not, these are well-known, long-standing, and unmistakable antisemitic symbols, with origins going back hundreds of years.” 

The letter continued “It is deeply wrong and dangerous to deploy imagery such as this. Depicting a Jewish female administrator with “devil horns,” as a pig, or using obscene and vulgar expressions, are not amusing caricatures – they are dark and troubling images deeply rooted in history that have been associated with hatred and violence for centuries, in addition to being openly misogynistic,” Fuerst and D’Alleva said. 

The group responded to the letter in an Instagram post. 

“UConnDivest condemns the administration’s weaponization of antisemitism to deflect criticism over its involvement in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” UConn Divest said. “We oppose the university’s conflation of Judaism with support for an entity actively committing genocide.” 

Protest leaders spoke with Cydni Costanzo, the interim assistant vice president for student life. Law student and UConn Divest member Colin Rosadino stated that Costanzo was there to clarify UConn’s policies on the use of amplified sound. 

The protest ended at approximately 5 p.m., after students had been protesting for five hours, when Maric left Gulley Hall.  

UConn Divest posted a video of Maric leaving on Instagram and wrote, “She ordered a procession of FIVE police cruisers to avoid her constituents.” 

Reitz said in an email that Maric left at her scheduled time in a non-police vehicle. 

Rosadino discussed a meeting between UConn Divest leaders and UConn administrators held on August 28. 

“I have not been able to meet with anyone specifically regarding divestment,” said Rosadino. “When we tried to bring up policy in the meeting that we were offered with Nathan Fuerst and Anne D’Alleva, they said that’s not within our realm, we don’t deal with the finances, the UConn Foundation is a separate entity — stuff of that nature.” 

Rosadino said that when UConn Divest members tried to discuss policy changes in the meetings on how students were being treated on campus, Fuerst and D’Alleva said that they would have to talk with other people. 

“We haven’t gotten to meet with the people that actually make the decisions,” said Rosadino. “Until we’re able to meet with administrators substantively about the policies that we want to see change, we’re not going to be stopping, we’re not going to stop making our voice heard.” 

UConn Divest leaders have met with students holding elected positions regarding divestment. Rosadino said that USG President Lorien Touponse was a participant in the Aug. 28 meeting.  

“Lorien is continually working to bring concerns about investments at the Foundation directly to them, the administration,” said Rosadino. 

Rosadino said he had been in contact with undergraduate student trustee Sean Dunn about policies on campus and investments. He said that UConn Divest had not met with Joy Hamer, the graduate student trustee, but was planning to meet with her. Both student trustees are voting members on the 21-member Board of Trustees. 

Rosadino said he believed that UConn Divest had met with Nahum Valiente, the student representative for the UConn Foundation and ex-officio member on the Foundation’s Board of Directors. 

“I think that the school wants people to believe that they don’t have a choice, particularly the Foundation.,” said Rosadino. “They say that well, the indirect investment structure doesn’t allow us to specify which companies we’re investing in and which ones we aren’t, and it would be very onerous to go through the process of importing a policy that includes these ethical considerations. But they do have a choice, and I don’t think its satisfactory just to say that because these investments are set up the way that they are that they are not able to substantially address any concerns surrounding them.” 

Rosadino spoke about past divestment by UConn from South Africa and Sudan. 

“I don’t understand what the difference is now. I don’t understand why ethical considerations matter more in the 1980s than they do in 2024,” said Rosadino. 

Editor’s note: This article was updated on Sept. 19, 2024 to include quotes from a letter sent by Fuerst and D’Alleva, along with a response from UConn Divest.