UMaine trustees decline student divestment request after hour of heated public comment

The University of Maine System Board of Trustees opened its January meeting by telling speakers that the board would not take up students’ demands to divest university investments tied to Israel, prompting more than an hour of sharply divided public comment.

The board’s chair said the executive committee — which acts for the full board between meetings — had reviewed the petition and decided the board’s role is to preserve “a place of free inquiry” and to make sure “all sides are heard,” rather than to adopt positions on foreign policy. The chair also announced plans to explore Zoom access for future public comment periods.

Speakers at the public‑comment period presented opposing views on the conflict in Israel and Gaza and on the proper role of a public university. Stephen Cop, who identified himself as a Portland resident and the grandson of University of Maine alumni, said trustees “can and must defend” the university’s legacy of protecting students from anti‑Semitism and urged the board to refuse policies he called “inherently anti‑Semitic.”

Several speakers echoed that position. Rabbi Levi Willinsky (self‑identified) and other faith leaders and alumni thanked the trustees for declining to take the divestment demands, saying the board’s neutrality protects campus safety and academic inquiry.

Students, faculty and other commenters urged the opposite course. "We are asking the board to revoke their existing position and to divest," said Willow Cunningham, a graduate student, who argued that divestment would be consistent with the system’s 1982 precedent for apartheid South Africa. Lucas Bent, a student representative of Humane Jewish Voice for Peace, told trustees the system holds roughly $1.6 million in companies he said supply weapons technology to Israel and argued that financial ties represent a de facto position.

Speakers cited outside authorities during the back‑and‑forth. Commentators referenced recent international findings and reports — including, as speakers described them, statements by Amnesty International and the International Court of Justice — as part of arguments on both sides. Some speakers warned of rising anti‑Semitism on campus and in the community; others warned that declining to act equates to supporting the status quo.

Trustees did not take a vote on divestment during the public meeting. Instead, the board reiterated that the executive committee had acted to deny placing the student petition on today’s full‑board agenda while leaving the public comment record open. Trustees said the decision does not foreclose future review through the conventional committee and agenda process.

The meeting moved next to campus presentations and a separate set of governance and fiscal agenda items.