Palestine advocates decry last-minute State Board of Investment meeting postponement
Press conference & community speak-out:
Where: New City Center, 3104 16th Ave S, Minneapolis
When: Saturday, March 1 at 3 p.m.
ST PAUL – On Thursday, the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) abruptly postponed its quarterly meeting, which had been scheduled for March 5. The postponement was posted to the SBI’s website with no explanation and no new date provided.
The SBI’s quarterly meetings have been the site of growing crowds of pro-Palestine community members advocating for divestment of SBI-managed funds from the State of Israel, weapons manufacturers, and other companies complicit in Israel’s occupation, apartheid and genocide in Palestine. According to researchers with the DivestMN.com website, over $5.4 billion in SBI-managed funds are invested in such entities, based on the SBI’s latest Public Markets Asset Listing report.
In 1985, the SBI passed a resolution initiating broad divestment from apartheid South Africa. The current SBI comprises Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, State Auditor Julie Blaha, and Secretary of State Steve Simon. According to its website, the market value of all assets under its management is $149.7 billion, mostly from statewide pension funds.
Activists with several groups, including the Minnesota Anti-War Committee, Breaking the Bonds MN, Minnesota BDS Community, Women Against Military Madness, Jewish Voice for Peace – Twin Cities, American Muslims for Palestine – Minnesota, and others, have given pro-divestment testimony at SBI meetings for over a decade. After Israel’s large-scale massacres in Gaza began in October 2023, however, community members increasingly packed the meetings, forcing the SBI to move from its usual meeting place in the State Capitol to a larger space in the Minnesota Senate Building.
Then, in December 2024, the SBI convened in what it termed a “hybrid” format, disallowing live public comments and allowing the public to witness the proceedings only via a video screen in a small conference room in the Department of Administration Building. Governor Tim Walz cited COVID-19 to justify the change, despite having lifted pandemic restrictions in most state institutions years earlier. Activists questioned the legality of the change under Minnesota’s Open Meeting law.
As of press time, it was unclear what format a rescheduled meeting might take. The SBI’s quarterly meetings typically coincide with meetings of the Executive Council and the Land Exchange Board. While the Executive Council’s website showed a similar postponement, as of Thursday evening, the Land Exchange Board’s website still listed a March 5 hybrid-style meeting in the Minnesota Judicial Center, and confusingly included language stating, “Some members of the State Board of Investment may participate in the meeting by telephone or interactive technology.”
“The SBI seems to think the divestment movement is just a passing trend that will blow over if they avoid us long enough,” said Wyatt Miller of the MN Anti-War Committee. “Unfortunately, Israel’s US-backed genocide of at least 48,000 Palestinians is permanently inscribed in history, and has had and will continue to have serious political consequences at all levels of government. They ignore this reality at their own peril.”
In anticipation of such a last-minute maneuver by the SBI, the MN Anti-War Committee had already planned a community speak-out and press conference at the New City Center, 3104 16th Ave S, Minneapolis, where community members who were silenced at the last SBI meeting will be able to speak in a supportive environment. The event will take place on Saturday, March 1 at 3 p.m. Organizers strongly encourage media to attend.