Standing With Israel: A Letter to Brown University

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - Attorney General Sean D. Reyes joined 23 attorneys general in writing to Brown University Trustees to remind them that divesting from companies doing business in Israel would trigger anti-boycott laws in at least 37 states. The letter, led by the State of Arkansas, seeks to dissuade Brown from yielding to intense pressure from antisemitic extremists, including Students for Justice in Palestine.

This October, the Brown University Trustees and Fellows are scheduled to vote on the Brown Divest Now proposal. The pressure, which originated in the aftermath of the horrific October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists, evolved into threats of violence against Jewish leaders and students at the school. According to the letter, "Federal investigators with the U.S. Department of Education found that Brown University took 'no or little action in response' to 75 complaints of harassment from October 2023 through March 2024." After increasing outcries by these antisemitic voices on and around campus, Brown succumbed to the demands of the mob and scheduled a vote on the divestment policy for October.

In the letter, the attorneys general warn Brown University that the divestment policy, if enacted, would conflict with laws in at least 37 States across America that "aggressively combat the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement," leading to consequences for the educational institution. As the attorney generals write, "Others have discovered to their detriment that those laws have profound financial consequences, and we would strongly counsel you to learn from those past examples. When Ben & Jerry's, a subsidiary of Unilever, recently attempted to boycott Israel, the application of state anti-BDS laws led to the divestment of hundreds of millions of dollars in Unilever stock by state pension funds and, eventually, the termination of the Unilever CEO."

Joining Utah and Arkansas on the letter were the States of Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Read the letter here.