About a year ago, students organized with the hopes of holding Stevens accountable to divest its endowment from companies or investments that are or have violated international law and human rights. With little progress being made by the university, the Holding Stevens Accountable protest was held on March 25, 2026, at Stevens Park, to bring awareness and attention to the ongoing issues. SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine), an organization that has been involved with the divestment process, took to Instagram, promoting the protest and highlighting “a year of activism”.
The Stevens Divest From War (SDFWI) is a student-organized campaign with the goal of urging Stevens to remove any and all investments that are tied to companies allegedly complicit and involved in war crimes and violations of human rights. This initiative first began to gather publicity in 2024, when students asked for transparency in the universities, investments, and partnerships.
A timeline of events:
December 6, 2024: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) held an on‑campus demonstration. The event was organized to raise awareness on campus about the ongoing conflict in Palestine. SJP noted that “its goal was to provide an educational and respectful platform for these discussions”.
February 28, 2025: The SGA read a proclamation supporting the SDFWI, with a proposal titled “Proposal for Stevens Institute of Technology’s Divestment and Dissociation from Violations of International Law and Human Rights.” Both called upon the Stevens Board of Trustees, where one of the writers of both the proclamation and proposal, recent Stevens alumnus James Hooker, expressed “the school’s $318 million endowment funds scholarships and research, and therefore students deserve to know that their funding is coming from ethical places.” A student petition in favor of SDFWI was also being shared, which at the time had 518 undergraduate signatures, of which 497 supported the initiative. A discussion to address both was held, where the SGA decided to temporarily table the bill.
March 7, 2025: The proclamation failed to pass for a second time. The proclamation was updated with changes. 22 senators voted in favor, 12 against, and 2 abstained, which did not meet the ⅔ requirement. Despite this, SDFWI shared that they will continue to advocate and continue their demands.
May 2, 2025: It was announced university-wide that the Letter from the Student Body (LSB) was officially passed. Following this, the letter was delivered to the Board of Trustees and President Favardin, who, at the time, did not receive a response.
September 21, 2025: A response was finally received, where the Board and President acknowledged the efforts being made, the issues were discussed, but ultimately, the divestment could not be implemented for several reasons. The Investment Policy Statement was updated to better reflect more respected ethical values.
The protest was held to highlight a year of student organizing centered on university accountability, in which students organized multiple divestment initiatives and strong student support. The protest also focused on a list of demands, which also tied in sanctuary-type protections for students in relation to privacy and immigration-related concerns.
A student involved in the protest planning and demands spoke to The Stute on the condition of anonymity while divestment efforts continue, stating, “Since the protest in March, we have not seen much change on the policy end, but we have been able to set up a meeting with members of administration who we were unable to previously, a trend we hope will continue in the future. However, we would like to further build up pressure to work on efforts to tangibly implement our proposals in a timely way, as we do believe they are far more urgent and necessary than the current delaying and dismissal patterns would like to have them seem.” The university coordinated with Stevens Campus Police, as well as Hoboken first-responders, with an ambulance on standby during the protest.
Organizers will continue to push for ethical investments. The Holding Stevens Accountable protest reflects the growing movement in Stevens’s student body and the nationwide call to universities for moral transparency. Although the next steps are not set in stone, they are centered around working with the administration and building overall efforts. Progress has been made in aligning the student communities behind the proclamation’s goals, but advocates will continue to emphasize student influence over university partnership and financial investments.
