Students protest outside the Rhode Island School of Design building at 20 Washington Pl. on Monday afternoon where classmates are staging a sit-in and calling on RISD President Crystal Williams to divest from Israel. Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect

The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), a neighbor of and frequent academic collaborator with Brown University, has agreed to consider a boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) proposal submitted by the vocal pro-Hamas student group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

According to The Brown Daily Herald, the news was announced during an anti-Zionist demonstration held on the RISD campus Thursday. The original proposal, however, was submitted in March, while campuses across the country, RISD included, were convulsed by pro-Hamas protests which called for further mass casualties of Israelis of the kind Hamas perpetrated on Oct. 7 of last year. RISD administrators reportedly agreed to advance the boycott resolution in exchange for a promise that SJP would not disrupt spring commencement.

“In May RISD President Crystal Williams agreed to convene a meeting between the members of the Board of Trustees Investment Committee and a select number of student activists, under the condition that RSJP would not disrupt commencement activities,” the Daily Herald reported.

SJP, the Herald added, is demanding that RISD reject any future investments in defense conglomerate Textron, whose subsidiaries have sold Israel various aviation products and other technologies. Previously, the group had insisted on severing ties with a vital source of RISD income — the Rayon Foundation Trust, currently valued at over $28 million— because the man who established it, Royal Little, founded Textron. The group also has demanded divestment from Airbnb, founded reportedly by RISD alumni, for permitting rentals of West Bank properties owned by Israelis. Williams said in May that RISD has no holdings in Airbnb.

Responding to an Algemeiner inquiry, RISD senior public relations director Jamie Marland issued the following the statement: “On Thursday, October 17, five representatives from RISD Students for Justice in Palestine (RSJP) met with several members of the Board of Trustees’ investment subcommittee to present their proposal for divestment. During the conversation, the co-chair of the investment subcommittee provided clarity on RISD’s investment philosophy and practices, spoke more generally about RISD’s finances overall, and answered students questions about the endowment. He, and others, also spoke to the purpose of RISD’s investments — which is to secure and strengthen the corse of RISD’s mission now and for future generations, including expansion of access and financial aid. President Williams and members of her leadership team were present.”

She continued,”The investment subcommittee members thanked the students for their thoughtfulness and passion, assured them they would bring the proposal to the Board’s full Stewardship & Sustainability committee, and move forward with a recommendation to the full Board, who will then consider the proposal. The trustees always value open communication and they will share their thoughts on this proposal.”

Despite the college’s concession to SJP, campus chapter leader and spokesperson Jo Ouyang still harbors suspicions of its intent.

“I think this trustee meeting is really a crucial step for us to remain in communication with the Board of Trustees, and we hope to have future meetings,” Ouyang told the Herald. “But this will also not stall our tactics and strategies of protesting on this campus and calling for divestment now.”

American universities have largely rejected demands to divest from Israel and entities at all linked to the Jewish state, delivering blows to the pro-Hamas protest movement, which students and faculty pushed with dozens of illegal demonstrations aimed at coercing officials into enacting the policy.

Earlier this month, Brown University Corporation voted down a proposal — muscled onto the agenda of its annual meeting by an anti-Zionist group which held the university hostage with threats of illegal demonstrations and other misconduct — to divest from 10 companies linked to Israel. According to the university, the Corporation heeded the counsel of the Advisory Committee on University Resources Management (ACURM), which witnessed earlier this semester a presentation — delivered by the pro-Hamas group Brown Divest Coalition (BDC) — in support of divestment and determined that the idea is unviable.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.