Students, alumni and community members urge UMaine System trustees to divest $1.6M from companies they say are complicit in Gaza violence

Dozens of students, alumni and community members used the public‑comment period at the University of Maine System Board of Trustees meeting to urge the board to divest roughly $1.6 million the system holds in companies the speakers said are "complicit in" or materially support Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

Speakers — including students who identified themselves as members of Here for the Kids, Jewish Voice for Peace and UMaine JVP — cited civilian death tolls, humanitarian conditions in Gaza, recent polling, and precedents including the system’s past divestment from apartheid‑era South Africa and more recent fossil‑fuel divestment decisions. Student speakers repeatedly said divestment is a moral and financial issue; several asked the board to reconsider a petition the trustees rejected last year.

"Please divest from the complicit companies previously reported," said Megan Saborlich, a senior economics major who identified herself as a member of Here for the Kids and Jewish Voice for Peace. "Inaction is still an active political choice," she told trustees, citing press reports and academic commentary.

Willow Cunningham, who identified herself as a UMaine alumnus, told trustees, "Your silence and your failure to act on this issue is pathetic" and argued that continued investment represents moral complicity. Gracie Gable, a political science junior, asked the trustees to divest specific funds she said the system holds: "I am here to once again call the board of trustees to divest the $1,600,000 they have invested in companies complicit..." Several speakers referenced increasingly unfavorable public opinion and reported institutional divestments elsewhere.

Other commenters grounded the appeal in professional and ethical arguments: Meredith Bruskin, a nurse and graduate of UMaine, said she was "horrified that our tax money and the complicity of so many American corporations and our government actually are making this assault possible" and urged trustees to act "in the name of humanity." Lucas Bent, a recent alumnus, asked the trustees to reconsider a previous board statement that the board would only reconsider divestment after a substantial change in circumstances on the ground.

Speakers included student organizers and alumni; remarks were passionate and at times accusatory. The board received the comments but did not take an immediate vote or announce a new review of the system’s investment holdings during the meeting.

Ending: Trustees acknowledged receipt of the public comments. No formal board action on divestment was recorded in the meeting minutes; speakers said they planned continued advocacy.