Portland university ‘pauses’ Boeing ties amid Gaza protests, but students won’t budge

As Portland State University president promises to hold open forum in May to discuss donations from aerospace giant, students refuse to vacate encampment blocking campus library

By ToI Staff 30 April 2024, 8:51 am Edit
Illustrative - A Boeing 707 refueling plane and C-130 Hercules transport aircraft demonstrate aerial refueling at a graduation ceremony for soldiers who completed the Israeli Air Force's flight course, at the Hatzerim Air Base in the Negev Desert, June 28, 2016. (Ofer Zidon/Flash90)
Illustrative - A Boeing 707 refueling plane and C-130 Hercules transport aircraft demonstrate aerial refueling at a graduation ceremony for soldiers who completed the Israeli Air Force's flight course, at the Hatzerim Air Base in the Negev Desert, June 28, 2016. (Ofer Zidon/Flash90)

Portland State University has decided to temporarily suspend donations from Boeing, following demands to cut ties with the aerospace industry leader amid the ongoing war in Gaza, while a student protest encampment dug in on Monday despite requests from security to clear the campus.

In an open letter, PSU president Ann Cudd announced on Friday that the university will host a forum in May to discuss student concerns about “ties” to the multibillion-dollar weapons manufacturer, which come primarily in the form of philanthropic donations.

While students have been urging the university to cut its relationship with Boeing for years, pressure has ramped up since war erupted between Israel and Hamas in Gaza after the terror group’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

Cudd detailed the university’s relationship with Boeing at a press conference last month, as reported by the PSU Vanguard student newsletter, saying that the company had this year donated $150,000 for a classroom, in addition to a regular donation of $28,000 to fund scholarships.

The aircraft manufacturer’s defense wing, Boeing Defense, Space and Security, has offices in Israel and supplies the country with fighter jets including the F-15IA — the Israeli variant of the advanced F-15EX — and the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.

Boeing has a large manufacturing plant in Everett, Washington, some 320 kilometers (200 miles) from Portland, where many PSU alumni work after completing their studies.

While Cudd said at the March press conference that she did not see “any logical reason to rethink” the relationship with Boeing, after weeks of anti-Israel protests on university campuses across the US she wrote that the “passion” with which students were demanding change had motivated her “to listen and ask additional questions.”

In the meantime, she wrote, “PSU will pause seeking or accepting any further gifts or grants from the Boeing Company until we have had a chance to engage in this debate and come to conclusions about a reasonable course of action.”

The move followed arrests and suspensions of protesters against the war at a number of US university campuses — which have sometimes veered into antisemitism and intimidation of Jewish students — that have swept through higher education institutions from coast to coast.

Despite the decision to pause financial contributions from Boeing, protesters at PSU have barricaded the campus library, leading security on Monday to ask them to vacate the encampment.

At Columbia University, the epicenter of the anti-Israel protests, authorities on Monday began suspending demonstrators who refused to disperse, despite ongoing requests and warnings.

While pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests have been held regularly on US campuses since war broke out on October 7 with the terrorist organization’s unprecedented attack on Israel in which 1,200 people were murdered and 253 were taken hostage, the demonstrations sparked renewed attention after Columbia University protesters set up their encampment earlier this month.

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