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Rhode Island School of Design Rejects BDS

Students protest outside the Rhode Island School of Design building at 20 Washington Pl., 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, which shares the College Hill section of Providence, Rhode Island, with Brown University, has rejected a proposal to adopt the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, dealing a major tactical defeat to the anti-Zionist movement in higher education.
Divestment from Israel was an idea put forth by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a terror-affiliated network of organizations operating on college campuses across the US, during fall semester, according to a statement issued by the college. RISD administrators agreed to consider it and forwarded the question to two committees and the Board of Trustees, which determined on Jan. 9 that nothing happening in Israel and the Palestinian territories falls within parameters laid out in the college’s “Statement on Divestment.”
Issued in 2015, the Statement on Divestment permits the college’s investment decisions to be influenced by politics — or, in the college’s own words, “political and social considerations” — “in rare circumstances … when a proposed investment or divestment implicates an issue of importance to RISD as an institution and to its constituents as a whole.” Students for Justice in Palestine’s divestment proposal, the Board of Trustees ruled, “did not meet the criteria” stipulated in the statement and had to be rejected.
In explaining their decision, RISD’s trustees stressed the college’s mission “to educate its students and the public in the creation and appreciation of works of art and design, to discover and transmit knowledge, and to make lasting contributions to a global society through critical thinking, scholarship, and innovation.”
They continued, “The decision is also informed by our obligation to consider all constituencies, our fiduciary duty as Trustees, and our commitment to preserve the future long-term sustainability of the institution.”
Speaking to The Brown Daily Herald on Tuesday, RISD student and SJP member Jo Ouyang denounced the college’s decision, saying that it “came across like a slap in the face” and implying that the board of trustees acted from insidious motives such as “absolving themselves from their complicity in the genocide in Palestine.”
The Rhode Island School of Design is not the first higher education institution to refuse demands for BDS. Trinity College, for example, did so in November, citing its “fiduciary responsibilities,” as did Chapman University, the University of Minnesota, Oberlin College, Brown University, and Williams College throughout 2024.
In so doing, they may have spared themselves devastating, self-inflicted injuries. According to a recent study conducted by JLens, a Jewish investor network that is part of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), colleges and universities will lose tens of billions of dollars from their endowments if they surrender to demands for BDS.
The losses estimated by JLens are cataclysmic. Adopting BDS, it said, would incinerate $33.21 billion of future returns for the 100 largest university endowments over the next 10 years, with Harvard University losing $2.5 billion and the University of Texas losing $2.2 billion. Other schools would forfeit over $1 billion, including the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, and Princeton University. For others, such as the University of Michigan and Dartmouth College, the damages would total in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy

Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
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Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
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