NYU trustee and insurance billionaire William Berkley called for federal law enforcement to take action against pro-Palestinian student protesters on a Zoom call with the centrist group No Labels, the Intercept reported on Saturday.
Berkley alleged that similarities between the tents used in encampments at different universities suggested an outside group had coordinated the demonstrations.
“The FBI and the terrorist monitoring groups know this — why haven’t we seen any action by the federal government?” Berkley said on the call.
Berkley served as the chair of the NYU Board of Trustees from 2014 to 2023. He was replaced by Evan Chesler, whom Berkley previously beat out for the chair spot in 2014 by prioritizing expansion while Chesler prioritized financial aid. Berkley remains on the board as a trustee.
Berkley also claimed on the call that “we have deciphered messages” from a New York City pro-Palestinian organization telling protesters to gather at Columbia University’s now-cleared Gaza Solidarity Encampment. It was not clear as to whom he was referring.
A representative for the NYU Palestine Solidarity Coalition, which organized the encampments at Gould Plaza and outside the Paulson Center, wrote in a statement that Berkley’s comments “only demonstrate the extent to which NYU, as a functionary of the Zionist entity, will employ racist, violent tactics to protect its investments in the occupation of Palestine.”
“NYU’s attempts to repress student organizers is a faulty attempt to deter us from our cause,” the statement continued. “We are committed to escalating for Gaza.”
The recent protests to divest from companies associated with Israel are not the first time Berkley has fielded calls for divestiture.
During Berkley’s tenure as the chair of the board of trustees, climate activists with NYU Divest pushed the board to withdraw the university’s direct investments in fossil fuel companies. In 2016, the group held a 33-hour occupation in Bobst Library that ended after NYU threatened participating students with suspension. Berkley, whose company’s subsidiaries insure oil and gas extraction, authored the trustees’ rejection of a University Senate motion for fossil fuel divestment that year.
NYU Divest staged another occupation the next year at the administrative elevator in Bobst. That time around, the university responded by announcing it had already divested direct holdings in fossil fuel companies. Last year, Berkley authored a letter to the climate group Sunrise NYU committing to ongoing divestment from fossil fuels and avoiding indirect investment via commingled funds.
After graduating from NYU’s business school in 1966, Berkley founded the W.R. Berkley insurance firm while attending graduate school at Harvard University. Today, Forbes ranks him as the 326th-richest person in the United States.
Berkley has said that he chose to attend NYU for the financial aid he received, and in December 2023, his foundation donated $20 million to a new NYU program funding the full cost of tuition for many undergraduates. He had previously been criticized for his position at a student loans firm that charged high interest rates, and faced lawsuits after he sold about $39 million worth of the company’s stock shortly before its value collapsed in 2008.
Berkley did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
In a video attached to his NYU trustee profile, Berkley said the university draws its strength from the spirit of the city surrounding it.
“It is the place that embraces change rather than running from change,” Berkley said of NYU. “It’s the place that understands it was founded because of a dissatisfaction with the status quo.”
Contact Alex Tey at [email protected].
