Since April 17, 2024, first starting with Columbia University, a wave of student-led encampments swept across university campuses nationwide, echoing with chants for a free Palestine and calls for institutional divestment from companies profiting off war. As of May 6, 2024, student protests have occurred in 45 out of 50 U.S. states, plus Washington, D.C., with encampments, occupations, walkouts, or sit-ins on nearly 140 campuses.
The encampments are viscerally powerful. Students pitching tents to advocate for justice on manicured college lawns, Palestinian flags flying alongside handmade signs, students eating, sleeping, chanting, and studying in peaceful resistance.
The Start at Chabot
At Chabot College, the movement didn’t erupt as it had at larger universities. But it didn’t go unnoticed.
“I was just sitting in my office when I saw an Instagram post about Las Positas doing a joint event with Cal State East Bay,” said Heather Clements, a faculty member at Chabot College. “I was shocked. I thought, why aren’t we doing anything?”
Heather Clements is a learning disability specialist and writing instructor who has long cared about Palestine. She keeps a poster about Palestine in her classroom and follows the news whenever possible. For her and for many others, the devastation in Gaza after Oct. 7, and the scale of U.S. complicity, reignited a sense of moral urgency.
That urgency turned into action after a conversation with a Las Positas student. The student told her about the Chabot–Las Positas district’s retirement board investments. Millions of dollars quietly placed in firms like BlackRock, which invests in weapons manufacturers and companies tied to human rights violations.
“I went straight to the Retirement Authority website,” she said. “It was all there. And it just clicked: We are not aligned with our values.”
That Instagram post. The encampments. The student conversation. Together, they lit the fuse that sparked Clements to start a push toward divestment. From there, she drafted a divestment resolution, gathered allies among faculty, and began organizing students — putting up flyers around campus and holding Zoom meetings over the summer.
“It’s not like we’re going to cripple BlackRock because we’re removing all our money,” she said. “We don’t have that kind of power. But if every community college, every CSU does this — we can put a dent in this moneymaking machine.”
What’s Next for Chabot?
So far, the divestment resolution has been adopted by both the Faculty Senate and the Student Senate at Chabot College. One vote remains: the Classified Senate. While some members are still uncertain about the resolution’s contents, Classified Senate President Virginia Criswell remains optimistic.
“I was more confident in our ability to get this passed,” Criswell said. “I thought we’d have already decided on it by now, but it’s taken us longer than anticipated. While some within our senate are still unsure and have questions, I believe we can still pass support for the resolution.”
Criswell said many questions raised by members are addressed directly in the resolution, which calls for greater transparency and more ethical investing. “Part of the resolution seeks to increase transparency to answer those questions. It also aims to be more humane in how we invest our money,” she said.
But approval at Chabot alone may not carry the weight needed to push the district to act.
“Keep in mind that even if we’ve pushed this through Chabot,” Clements explained, “we have not been able to get anybody from Las Positas to jump on board—and we’re not going to be able to do anything unless they do. I don’t think the district’s going to want to talk to us unless we get them to also pass something.”
Passing the resolution at Chabot is only the first step. It shows that there’s faculty and student support. But for any actual divestment to occur, the district itself has to approve and adopt the resolution. Without that, it’s symbolic—not binding.
“It would have a lot more strength if we had both colleges,” she added.
So what’s stopping Las Positas?
It’s a question that lingers, especially since Las Positas was part of the spark that ignited Chabot’s involvement. Ironically, the same student action that inspired Clements hasn’t yet translated into formal faculty or student organizing at Las Positas.
One possible factor: proximity to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a major defense contractor and research facility just minutes away from the Las Positas campus. The lab is one of the nation’s primary hubs for nuclear weapons development—raising complex questions about the influence of military industry in the region.
Las Positas has a “really strong relationship” with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Clements said—a connection that has included regular campus visits, research presentations and career opportunities for students. That connection, Clements noted, has been a catalyst for some students, who have called for the college to sever ties with the lab, citing its role in military, tech and nuclear weapons research.
At the same time, she acknowledged the financial appeal of jobs linked to the lab. “It probably is a good career,” she said. “It probably pays pretty good money. But we also want to be very clear and transparent about what that means—what are you participating in?”
For Clements, this is the heart of the divestment conversation: weighing institutional values against convenience, image, and economics. It’s not just about where the money goes—but what kind of future students and educators are being asked to buy into.
“The question is,” Clements said, “are we willing to match our values with our money?” If the answer is yes, then Clements believes Chabot can be part of something historic.
