VUW Foundation Divests from Israeli Stocks
ETHAN ROGACION (HE/HIM)
In early August, Salient reported that the Victoria University Foundation—the organisation responsible for managing the University’s investment portfolio—held just over $47k in Israeli Government bonds through its fund manager, ANZ. This disclosure came after months of activism from groups like Student Justice for Palestine and VUWSA among others, calling for the University to boycott, divest, and sanction funds that involved investments in Israel.
As of 30 August 2024, the Foundation no longer has investments in Israeli funds, a move which SJP calls “a big, collective win”. As previously reported by Salient, ANZ has exited the wholesale funds management space, which forced the Foundation to seek out a new fund manager.
According to a Foundation spokesperson, “The Foundation will continue to invest in Nikko Asset Management NZ’s Socially Responsible Investment Equity Fund for Australasian Equities, and therefore only invests in selected companies listed on the NZ and Australian stock exchanges.”
“The Foundation’s policies and instructions are set out in the Foundation’s Statement of Investment Policy and Objectives, which is shared with each fund manager and published on the website.”
Frank Mackenzie, a spokesperson for SJP, said that the Foundation’s decision to divest was a clear demonstration of the power of student activism “pushing to hold these academic institutions and leaders to account, so that we are not complicit in these settler colonial, genocidal regimes.”
SJP continues to call for more action from the University on financial transparency. Mackenzie says the only way to ensure that subsequent Foundation boards do not walk back this win is to “ implement a full, financial and academic Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) policy against Israel.
“We also need ongoing proactive disclosure of all investments so the University and Foundation can be held accountable.”