Top companies are on students' divest list. But does it really work?

A demonstrator protests outside the encampment established in support of Palestinians in Gaza at Columbia University on April 29, 2024. Columbia protesters are demanding their university sell off investments in a number of companies with business ties to Israel. (Alex Kent/Getty Images)

It's become a common mantra by protesters at universities across the country: "Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest."

Broadly, the protesters want their universities to sell off their investments in companies that have businesses or investments in Israel because of the country's invasion of Gaza. That's where the term divest comes from.