UC Riverside Becomes First UC Campus To Reach Deal With Pro-Palestine Protestors

Administrators at the University of California, Riverside reached a deal with pro-Palestine student protestors Friday to end their encampment and agree to their demands .

Students at UC Riverside organized a sit-in on campus on April 29 demandthat their university disclose investments and funding linked to Israel and divest from companies and institutions that are “complicit in the Israeli occupation, apartheid, and genocide” of Palestinians.

In the agreement reached with student leaders Friday, UC Riverside statedthat the college will take steps to be transparent about its investments. With students, it will also “explore the removal” of its endowment from the broader University of California system’s investment office and the reinvestment of it “in a manner that will be financially and ethically sound for the university with consideration to the companies involved in arms manufacturing and delivery.”

The university’s business school has also discontinued its study abroad programs to Israel.

“This agreement does not change the realities of the war in Gaza, or the need to address antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bias and discrimination; however, I am grateful that we can have constructive and peaceful conversations on how to address these complex issues,” UCR Chancellor Kim Wilcox said in a statement sent to faculty and staff on Friday night.

The chancellor did not respond to HuffPost’s request for additional comment.

“This is not the end of UCR’s complicity, and we will continue to hold our admin accountable. This is a step closer towards a liberated Palestine,” the UCR chapter of Students for Justice In Palestine wrote in a social media post.

“Our work is not done. Innocent people are still dying,