Dear Board of Regents,

I am urging you to sever ties with asset manager BlackRock and fully divest from weapons manufacturers and all companies profiting from militarism. These companies include but are not limited to the 5 largest weapons manufacturers—Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and General Dynamics. BlackRock is the world’s top investor in weapons manufacturing, climate destruction, and private prisons.

The same weapons companies profiting from endless wars abroad are also supplying military-grade weapons to police at home. As the events of this summer have made painfully clear, police jeopardize the safety of our most marginalized community members, specifically Black and Brown folks. Because of our commitment to ending militarized violence, we are also uplifting demands to defund UCPD.

So long as the UC invests in weapons companies, they are complicit in and profiting from police brutality and endless war. As a student-funded institution, it is morally imperative for the UC to align its investment practices with student values—and we urge you to take our money out of these violent companies.

University of California funding does not need to rely on investments in companies whose profits depend on killing, destruction, and environmental degradation. By divesting, the UC system can be a leader in climate justice and set a national example by rejecting the influence of the war economy and investing their money in socially responsible, green, and life-affirming alternatives. If the UC fails to act and continues to profit from the US war machine and police violence, it is failing to live up to its purported principles of sustainability and diversity.

Thank you,