UT student divestment calls: What does it mean? How much funding is at stake?

North Texas students have joined the national pro-Palestine movement across college campuses, and the call for their universities to divest.

Among other demands, student protesters are calling on university leaders to "fully divest from corporations complicit and directly facilitating war, occupation, policing, militarism, and death in Palestine and around the world," according to social media posts from the Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Texas at Dallas.

In other posts, the student groups have named some particular companies, like Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon, and General Dynamics.

So, how much money does the UT system invest in those companies?

All investments and endowments for UT schools, as well as Texas A&M University, are managed by The University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company (UTIMCO), a not-for-profit investment corporation that is overseen by members of the universities' board of regents.

NBC 5 looked through a 2023 audit report of the Permanent University Fund, one of the funds that UTIMCO manages.

According to the report, the UT System and Texas A&M invested $1,028,490 in Lockheed Martin, $567,284 in Raytheon, and $408,995 in General Dynamics.

To divest from "every" company with ties to Israel could be a huge undertaking, said J. Carlos Martinez, an economics professor at Dallas College.

“They’ve got some investment in government bonds, that are pretty straightforward. They’ve got a little bit of currency, there’s some stocks. Microsoft, Amazon, Northrop, you know, as much as maybe $100 million," he said.

The PUF is part of the system's endowments, which totals about $75 billion.

One nonprofit that tracks weapons sales and promotes transparency released a report on UTIMCO in 2021, finding that UTIMCO held about "$52.5 million worth of weapons and weapon systems."

We asked Martinez to go over UTIMCO's 2023 audit report with us. He said divestment could also take years.

“A lot of those investments are in private equity, or hedge funds or venture capital, are very illiquid. That’s even if you get to that point," he said. “Once a decision is taken, that could take 7,12,15 years to actually divest."

But he and others point out that other universities have divested before, from apartheid in South Africa.

That divestment movement spanned the 1960s through the 1980s.

The calls for divesture in South Africa came decades ago. Students said the strategy could be effective in their cause.

"It was about oppression. It was about genocide ... I don’t see that they’re dissimilar," said Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, who was part of calls to divest from South Africa.

Price said it took seven to eight years of constant, strategic protests.

“I came in here as a commissioner 40 years ago talking about disinvestment," he said, adding that it also took clear communication. “These are the appropriations, this is what they’re investing, and we want them to divest ... Show us the money. That’s part of the homework that you need to do so that the public is real clear about what you’re asking."

Divesting for UT at this stage is much more complicated. State law makes it difficult for the UT System to reallocate investments in Israel: In 2017, Gov. Greg Abbott signed anti-boycott, divestment, and sanctions legislation into law.

So far, UT officials have not addressed calls for divestment. NBC 5 reached out to the UT System to weigh in on the issue. We are still waiting for comment.  

On Tuesday, The University of Texas System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin P. Eltife released a statement condemning protesters' "disturbances," but did not address any of their demands:

"As I have previously stated, any attempt to shut down or disrupt UT operations will not be tolerated. There is no rationale whatsoever that justifies the endangerment of our students and campus environments. Massive crowds of students, along with outside groups with absolutely no connection to UT, have intentionally caused disturbances with plans to harm our campus community. In fact, the majority of arrests to date have occurred with agitators who are not UT students. These activities will not be allowed. While free speech is fundamental to our educational institutions, it is violated when it includes threats to campus safety and security or refusal to comply with institutional policies and law. At UT Austin, I have been working closely with President Hartzell on decisions to protect its entire campus community, and we will not acquiesce on those protections under any circumstance. I appreciate our campus police officers and we cannot thank the Texas Department of Public Safety enough for all their assistance. We will continue to call upon the DPS to secure our campus when needed. Moreover, we will make every effort to see that students who violate campus policies and outside individuals and groups that violate state law are fully prosecuted. Nothing is more important than the safety of our students, and we will not hesitate again to use all resources available to us to keep them safe and our UT campuses open." - Kevin P. Eltife, The University of Texas System Board of Regents Chairman