Alumni Stage Disruption at Donor Reception in Response to DePaul’s Refusal to Divest from Genocide

DePaul University alumni disrupted the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Reception—a high level gathering of donors. Alumni protestors are calling on DePaul to divest from Israel’s genocide in Gaza, in which at least 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, including over 15,000 children, in the span of eight months. 

Donations from alumni and others are the third biggest source of income for DePaul University. Alumni disruptors pledge to withhold donations to DePaul in solidarity with students and faculty in their demands for financial transparency and for divestment from human rights abuses. 

The alumni disruption comes a week after DePaul President Robert Manuel signed a complaint authorizing a Chicago police raid on a student encampment calling for divestment from Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The raid resulted in physical assaults on students and two student arrests.

The Gaza solidarity encampment, which began on April 30th and forcibly removed by CPD on May 16th, was organized by the The DePaul Divestment Coalition to call on the University to end its investment in weapons manufacturers and other corporations involved in harming and killing civilians in Gaza. When the coalition asked President Manuel to disclose the University’s investments during negotiations, he told students he wouldn’t disclose this information “because I think it would further enrage you.”