Brown University’s endowment returned 11.3% for the year ended in June, boosting the fund’s value to $7.2 billion.
With $728 million in investment gains, the endowment provided a record $281 million to the school’s operating budget, Brown said in a statement Friday. The contribution, accounting for 21% of total revenue, helps pay for such costs as financial aid and salary increases.
Brown reported the returns as its board of trustees prepares to vote this month on a controversial proposal to exit holdings tied to Israel. Last week, a committee submitted a nonbinding recommendation on divestment to the school. The board, which is led by Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan, will consider the report.
The Providence, Rhode Island-based university declined to make the recommendation public or provide the date of the vote. Earlier this year, Brown President Christina Paxson promised pro-Palestinian student demonstrators a formal board vote on condition that they clear an encampment ahead of graduation.
The Ivy League school was one of a handful that negotiated with student groups that took over parts of many US campuses to protest Israel’s war in Gaza after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on the Jewish state. Brown Divest Coalition is pushing the university to screen its holdings for “companies complicit in human rights abuses in Palestine,” including in Israel’s war effort, and exit any such investments.
Other colleges have largely dismissed calls to sell off holdings tied to Israel, with Wesleyan University rejecting such a proposal in September. Williams College, the richest US liberal arts college, did the same in June. A committee of the University of Virginia’s board reiterated its longstanding position against divestment from companies tied to Israel at September meeting.
In August, two dozen state attorneys general warned Brown of financial penalties if the school’s trustees vote in favor of divestment measures. Many states including Rhode Island have laws banning discrimination against Israel, although the Ocean State’s measure doesn’t apply to private institutions such as Brown.
Led by Chief Investment Officer Jane Dietze, Brown’s endowment is still the smallest in the Ivy League, but its annualized returns led the eight-school grouping during the 10 years ending in June 2023. So far this year, Brown’s investment gain is second in the Ivies only to Columbia University’s 11.5%, while peers such as Harvard University and Yale University have yet to report results.
The divestment discussion has already roiled Brown’s 54-member board. One trustee, Perceptive Advisors CEO Joseph Edelman, resigned in protest in September, saying the decision to hold a vote reflects a troubling stance toward rising antisemitism on campus.
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