Full Breakdown
City University of New York (CUNY) Agrees to Disclose Investments Tied to Israel’s Military Campaigns
8/19/2026, 11:41:43 PM
Background of the FOIA Request and Lawsuit
In 2024, CUNY law student Sarah Southey filed a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request seeking details on the university’s stock and bond holdings in companies she said have “ties to Israel.” The request, filed as part of her work with CUNY for Palestine and CUNY Law Students for Justice in Palestine, listed firms such as Dell Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Elbit, Barclays, and IBM. The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) sued the university in state court in November 2024 after CUNY claimed the records were exempt due to trade-secret protections.
Settlement Terms
The university reached a settlement that obligates it to provide the NYCLU and Southey with:
- Reports of CUNY’s stock and bond holdings for every fiscal year beginning in 2020.
- Purchase-order records for contracts dating back to July 1, 2023 (as noted in the ledger).
The list of companies covered includes Dell Technologies Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., General Electric Co., Northrop Grumman Corp., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., Barclays Bank Plc, Chevron Corp., Siemens AG, and others identified in the original request. The settlement also requires CUNY to pay $20,000 in attorney’s fees to the NYCLU and to drop its appeal of the August 2025 trial-court decision that ordered disclosure.
Official Statements & Responses
CUNY, represented by the New York attorney general’s office, declined to comment on the settlement.
CUNY SJP, a student-run advocacy group, hailed the agreement as a turning point:
- “This victory marks the beginning of a new chapter in our divestment campaign. We will soon know the exact amount of money that CUNY directly invests in companies complicit in Israeli colonialism and the exact amount it must divest.” — CUNY SJP
Data and Companies Named
The settlement will reveal how much public money CUNY has invested in the identified firms and the extent of any contracts with them. The disclosure will cover fiscal years from 2020 onward, allowing the university and advocacy groups to calculate the precise amount of investment linked to companies they allege profit from “Israeli colonialism.”
On-the-Ground Context
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside the CUNY Graduate Center Library on May 14, 2024 (ledger) after taking over the lobby, underscoring the campus activism that helped propel the lawsuit.
The settlement marks the conclusion of a multi-year dispute and provides the first comprehensive view of CUNY’s financial ties to firms involved in Israel’s military operations.
