CUNY ordered to disclose all investments in companies with alleged ties to Israel

The City University of New York (CUNY) has agreed to a settlement that will compel it to disclose its investment holdings and contracts with 30 companies allegedly linked to Israel. This agreement concludes a protracted dispute initiated in 2024 when CUNY law student Sarah Southey filed a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request for CUNY's holdings.

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This victory marks the beginning of a new chapter in our divestment campaign. We will soon know the exact amount of money that CUNY directly invests in companies complicit in Israeli colonialism and the exact amount it must divest.

The Supreme Court of the State of New York initially approved the request in 2025, but CUNY appealed the decision. The recent settlement mandates CUNY to provide all its stock and bond holdings for every fiscal year since January 2020 within the next 15 days. While the settlement does not explicitly name Israel or specific companies, Southey's original filing targeted dozens of firms, including Dell, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Elbit, Barclays, and IBM.

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A major victory in CUNY4Palestine’s years-long campaign for CUNY to disclose and divest from companies complicit in Israel’s colonization of Palestine.

CUNY for Palestine and CUNY Law Students for Palestine have characterized the disclosure as a significant victory, marking a "new chapter in our divestment campaign." They intend to use the revealed information to determine the exact amount CUNY invests in companies they believe are complicit in "Israeli colonialism." Southey echoed this sentiment, calling it a "major victory" and emphasizing that investments reflect values, vowing to continue fighting until CUNY divests from companies enabling the "colonization of Palestine."

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In these records, CUNY must show exactly how much of our money, public money, it is spending on companies profiting off of genocide and occupation. Investments reflect values, and we will not stop fighting until the CUNY Board of Trustees fully divests our money from companies that are enabling and aiding the colonization of Palestine.

Veronica Salama, senior staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union, which represented Southey, expressed gratitude for the disclosure but criticized CUNY's resistance. "It is outrageous that our client had to file this lawsuit in the first place," Salama stated. She highlighted that investment record disclosure is a basic responsibility for a public institution and that CUNY students, faculty, and the campus community deserve transparency, regardless of their viewpoints or the purpose of their record requests.

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While we’re grateful that the largest, urban public university in the country will finally disclose its investment records, it is outrageous that our client had to file this lawsuit in the first place.