CUNY agrees to disclose investments after demand from anti-Israel group
City University of New York has agreed this week to disclose its stock and bond holdings after CUNY Law Students for Justice in Palestine filed a request under New York’s Freedom of Information Law as part of a campaign urging the university to divest from companies linked to Israel.
Under a settlement filed in New York County Supreme Court on Aug. 18, CUNY will provide reports identifying holdings registered in its name for its long-term combined investment portfolio at the end of each fiscal year since January 2020. The records will include descriptions and fair-market values.
The university also will disclose purchase orders dating to July 1, 2023, involving 30 companies named in the original records request. They include Boeing, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Caterpillar, Barclays, Chevron, RE/MAX, Ahava and SodaStream.
CUNY had rejected the request for investment records in 2024, citing New York’s trade-secret exemption. The university argued that releasing the records could expose information obtained from outside investment managers, reveal investment strategies and hamper its ability to recruit managers, potentially reducing investment returns. A state judge ruled in August 2025 that CUNY could not withhold the records on those grounds.
CUNY agreed to provide the records within 15 days. It also will drop its appeal of the 2025 ruling and pay $20,000 in legal fees to the New York Civil Liberties Union, which represented Sarah Southey, a CUNY School of Law student and member of CUNY Law Students for Justice in Palestine.
Southey filed the original FOIL request in March 2024 on behalf of CUNY Law SJP and CUNY for Palestine. The groups have sought disclosure of CUNY’s investments as part of a campaign to persuade the university to divest from companies they contend are connected to Israel.
The anti-Israel group celebrated the settlement on Aug. 19, stating, “This victory marks the beginning of a new chapter in our divestment campaign.”
“We demand that CUNY divest,” the group said.
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The City University of New York (CUNY) has agreed to disclose its stock and bond holdings following a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request from CUNY Law Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). This settlement, filed on August 18, requires CUNY to provide records of its long-term investment portfolio from January 2020, including descriptions and fair-market values, and purchase orders from July 1, 2023, for 30 specific companies. CUNY had initially rejected the request, citing trade-secret exemptions, but a state judge ruled against this in August 2025. The university will also pay $20,000 in legal fees to the New York Civil Liberties Union. SJP, which seeks CUNY's divestment from companies linked to Israel, celebrated the decision, stating, "This victory marks the beginning of a new chapter in our divestment campaign."
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