Originally submitted for Ball State Daily News

On August 10, the Israeli military murdered Anas Al-Sharif along with five other Al Jazeera journalists (Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, Momen Aliwa, Mohammed al-Khalidi). Then again on Monday August 25, another five (Mariam Abu Dagga, Mohammed Salama, Moaz Abu Taha, Ahmed Abu Aziz, Hussam al-Masri) were killed in a double tap airstrike on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, marking yet another escalation of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Amidst the force starvation of a population of over two million, nearly half of whom are children; these murders put the death toll of journalists in the occupied Palestinian territories at 175 in less than two years, according to the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Perhaps even more alarming is the silence from western media over such atrocities. 22-year-old Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed, who was forced to evacuate Gaza to Ireland under threats against his life, said in an interview with BreakThrough News on August 14 that “it’s a stain on every media body all across the globe… no one cared about him [Anas] and this is normal, this is the symptom of white supremacy… no one cares, no one cares about Palestinians.”

What’s more, our own university even has investments in the very companies that have allowed for this genocide to take place. Namely, through our use of Duo Mobile – the two-factor authentication app every technology conglomerate. According to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, “Cisco’s complicity in Israel’s crimes of apartheid and genocide is well documented through its illegal operations in illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), discriminatory policies, long-standing partnership with the Israeli military, and serial acquisitions of Israeli companies complicit in human rights violations.” In March, Cisco even fired a pro-Palestinian employee over their advocacy. Archit Mehta of DropSite News broke the story in April, reporting that Cisco’s Chief People, Policy, and Purpose Officer Francine Katsoudas stated in a company-wide video call: “Some topics are just simply too hard, too painful, too divisive, and they take our focus away from out ability to drive Cisco business, and one example specifically would be the ongoing conflict in the Middle East… We have made the decision that this topic cannot be discussed, cannot be debated in company or organization wide meetings.”

The Associated Press has even documented some of Cisco’s involvement in the genocide through the Israeli military’s use of their data centers for AI powered surveillance technology. Along with Cisco, Ball State also holds investments in at least two other companies profiting off the genocide and illegal occupation. The Carlyle Group, and Mercer Ventures. The former is one of the largest private equity groups in America with $465 billion dollars of assets under its management and has long invested in defense contractors, according to a February 2024 article published by the non-profit watchdog organization, Private Equity Stakeholder Project. The Ball State University Foundation’s 2021 tax return form 990 shows clearly the investments in the Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy Power Fund III. Meanwhile Mercer Ventures is one of the signatories of a document pledging full support to Israel’s “right to defense itself.”

The 2023 990 form also clearly shows BSU’s investment in this firm. Through these partnerships Ball State has allowed for the genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza to take place with impunity. How can a university, supposed bastions of free speech with commitments to upholding human rights and beneficence, remain silent on genocide? Especially when it directly funds said genocide? In an email correspondence with the president’s office regarding the lack of a statement, Ro-Anne Royer Engle, Vice President of Student Affairs, claimed that, “President Mearns has decided not to issue a statement on matters that fall outside the scope of his responsibilities as Ball State’s president.” However, less than a month after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, President Mearns went on Indiana Public Radio and dispelled any concerns of university investments in the Russian government or industry, yet nearly two years into a genocide he has failed to make any statement and instead allowed for the prosecution of students who have spoken out, both by the University’s conduct office and the Delaware County courts.

Since October 7, it is reported through Al Jazeera’s live tracker that at least 62,819 people, of which 18,430 are children, have been murdered in Gaza; widely believed to be a serious undercount as it excludes those buried under the rubble. One study from the Lancet in July 2024 makes a conservative estimate that for every confirmed death it is likely four more go unconfirmed, which would put the actual count at well over 200,000. Using the confirmed death toll, this equates to about four deaths per hour, which means it is likely every time you log in to your canvas or outlook through Duo Mobile, people have been murdered. People with families, people with hobbies, people who used to be enrolled in classes just like us before their universities were destroyed. Meanwhile, all we hear from university administrators is silence. Would Mearns fail to make a statement if it was one of our journalists or students murdered? Would we divest then? Is it only because the people being murdered are Muslim or Arab that silence is acceptable? There is nothing too complicated about the calculated killing and mass starvation of an entire ethnic group to not speak up. It is time for us to recognize that silence is violence. That complicity does implicate you as a perpetrator. That our privileged position gives us the responsibility to act. We should no longer allow Israel and its posse of war profiteers to commit these crimes with impunity.