Sustainable Finance Newsletter: On speech: Yeshiva U vs U of Chicago

By Ross Kerber

Nov 1 (Reuters) - Critics from many sides have faulted the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and other schools over their official responses to the war between Israel and Hamas. The comments are part of a wider debate about when school administrators should weigh in on social issues. The arguments provide case studies for business leaders facing the same pressures. Executives might also pay attention because the role of modern university presidents gives them plenty in common with CEOs, and not necessarily the colorful ones.

As this piece from the publication Inside Higher Ed put it last year, "Today’s CEO is less likely to be a diva, scene stealer or charismatic leader along the lines of Elon Musk or Steve Jobs than a cautious, carefully guarded, focused functionary or apparatchik, eager to avoid controversy at all costs." (Don't we all feel like that some days?)

The U.S. university response is hardly the central question among issues in the Middle East, but I have tried to round up the debate in this week's main story below. Separately: it is an important moment for automakers, based on stories about the end of strikes against the Detroit Three and a look at Toyota's battery plant investment plan.

I invite you to connect with me on LinkedIn where I welcome comments and feedback. If you have a news tip, potential content, or general thoughts you can email me at ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com This week's top stories * UAW reaches deal with GM, ending strike against Detroit automakers * Sam Bankman-Fried admits 'mistakes' but testifies he did not defraud anyone * NatWest shares sink most since Brexit on poor outlook, Farage row

Campus "statements" debate pits arguments from Yeshiva University against the University of Chicago

Executives struggling with what, if anything, to say about the war between Israel and Hamas will find some context in a split among U.S. universities on the same issue. You could simplify the debate as Yeshiva University versus the University of Chicago.

On one side, more than 100 colleges and universities signed on to a statement organized by Yeshiva University President Ari Berman that "We Stand Together with Israel Against Hamas" and listing atrocities committed by the militant group. The statement also says its signatories stand "with the Palestinians who suffer under Hamas’ cruel rule in Gaza and with all people of moral conscience."

Official support came from a wide range of leaders including from public and private universities, faith-based institutions and from historically Black colleges and universities. (All of Yeshiva's undergraduates are Jewish, while its graduate students are more religiously diverse.)

Berman said he organized the statement for moral clarity at a time when other universities were not identifying Hamas as a terrorist organization, as it has been designated by many governments.

"America's great universities were founded to pursue truth and to form educated citizens, not just credentialed professionals," Berman said.

Berman said there is room for debate about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the ethics of war. Human Rights Watch has condemned Hamas' massacres of Israeli civilians on Oct 7 as "war crimes," and has applied the term to Israel's blockade in response.

Other school presidents take a different view including Michael Schill, president of Northwestern University. In a public message on Oct 12 Schill said he planned no official position on the attacks although he personally was "deeply repulsed, sickened and disappointed by what Hamas has done."

The university's role is to celebrate different viewpoints, Schill wrote, citing principles developed at the nearby University of Chicago. "The university is the home and sponsor of critics; it is not itself the critic," states the school's well-known Kalven Report from 1967.

Asked why the University of Chicago has not taken an official position on the conflict beyond a limited early statement, a spokesman there said it was in keeping with the same principles.

Both Berman and Schill have their critics. Ken Roth, a former head of Human Rights Watch, called the statement organized by Berman "one-sided," saying it does not address the Israeli military's duty to spare civilians as much as possible. Roth added that university leaders should refrain from commenting on global affairs to avoid bringing pressure from donors that would impinge on academic freedom.

Meanwhile, Yale University researcher Steven Tian pointed to cases of Schill and University of Chicago leaders weighing in on social issues. The schools' stances are "just a convenient smokescreen for inaction and cowardice," Tian said via email.

The University of Chicago declined to comment on the criticism. A Northwestern representative said in response that Schill "has in fact made direct and strong statements condemning Hamas," such as on Oct. 13 when he said, "The abhorrent and horrific actions of Hamas on Saturday are clearly antithetical to Northwestern’s values — as well as my own."

Alison Taylor, associate professor at New York University, called the Chicago approach safer for executives because businesses do not have the mechanisms to summarize all stakeholders' views.

Yet under pressure from younger workers, companies are not likely to abandon claims they care about all stakeholders, she said. Going forward she expects to see more CEOs making personal statements rather than official ones.

"It's more defensible to speak personally. It addresses the question that businesses aren't a democracy," Taylor said.

Company news * Even as planned acquisitions make Exxon and Chevron even bigger, the fossil fuel ocean is so vast the firms still will not have as much market power as they might like, writes Breakingviews columnist Robert Cyran. * Impairments booked by energy giants BP and Equinor on their U.S. offshore wind power portfolios show an industry in the doldrums because of inflation, rising interest rates and subsidy rates. * Toyota said it will more than double its planned investment and jobs at a battery plant in North Carolina as it moves to offer electrified options for its models by 2025. The full story is here.

On my radar * Let's watch what becomes of a proposed Biden administration rule aimed at stopping so-called junk fees on retirement products, which faces industry arguments that investors already have "robust protections."

* It is sobering to read about past investment plans meant to lift the Palestinian and neighboring Arab state economies. But they were structured around a political solution that never happened. * A new round of United Nations-backed talks to limit global plastic pollution will take place in Nairobi, Kenya, starting on Nov 11.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston Editing by Matthew Lewis)