The Victoria University of Wellington campus was yesterday found painted in slogans including “Divest from genocide”, “Apartheid is lame” and “Free Gaza”.
The graffiti has been since removed by the university.
The protests came after the Victoria University Foundation disclosed its investment in Israeli government bonds to the university’s student magazine Salient.
Through its fund manager ANZ investments, approximately $47,532 of the Victoria University Foundation’s $109 million investment portfolio is invested in Israeli government bonds, which help finance the country’s military campaigns.
Salient interviewed one of the anonymous activists who said they wanted to send a message to the university to take it seriously.
“There is a genocide happening, and your money is funding it. You need to pull out your investments and change that.”
They also wanted to inform the student base of what the university was doing with its money.
Over a thousand people signed Student Justice for Palestine Pōneke’s (SJPP) open letter calling for the university to divest from Israel. The letter has also gained support from several student organisations at the university.
SJPP spokesperson Hana Pilkinton-Ching said the foundation claimed to be committed to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI).
“Their recent disclosure has shown they are in violation of their own policies of responsible investment. The foundation and VUW need to be held to account,” Pilkinton-Ching said.
Pilkinton-Ching said the foundation and Victoria University of Wellington must sever all investment ties to the “apartheid Israeli state, as well as companies that support and finance its genocide and illegal occupation”.
“The recent International Court of Justice ruling that Israel is responsible for apartheid means that universities and other academic institutions could be complicit in supporting apartheid should they fail to review all diplomatic, political, and economic ties with Israel.”
However, the foundation may not have holdings in the Israeli government for long.
In May ANZ Investments announced it would exit its wholesale business and, because of this, the Victoria University Foundation is seeking alternative fund managers and must do so by the end of August.
Massey University Students for Justice in Palestine have also launched a campaign in July demanding their university divest from Israeli government bonds after their foundation had confirmed it had some.