The non-registered activist group consistently violates university policies and has built ties to Yale’s student government. Questions remain about its funding, outside affiliations and accountability.
Students protest in front of the cardboard sculpture in Beinecke Plaza. (Credit: Jack Olson)
Hannah Owens Pierre
Opinions Editor, The Buckley Beacon
On October 1, 2026, hundreds of Yale students gathered for a protest in direct violation of Yale University policies. Planned by the Endowment Justice Collective (EJC), a non-registered organization led by Yale students, the protest featured a broad left-wing coalition of complaints.
One protester accused Yale of “profiting from the genocide in Gaza” and rallied against the free expression policy instituted by Yale. Another demanded a “living wage” for students while arguing that Yale is “appealing to fascists.” Meanwhile, Yale Law School Professor Amy Kapczynski called for “academic freedom.”
The October 1 protest, attended by student government officials, faculty, and even Senator Richard Blumenthal YLS ‘73, was not an isolated event. In recent months, EJC has organized two large protests, hung banners around campus, ambushed administrators, and built relationships with student-government leaders. It has bragged about violating university policy.
EJC’s growing influence raises questions about how the group operates, how its activities are funded, and how Yale applies its policies to organizations that are not formally recognized by the university.
The Protest
At the October 1st protest, several students and faculty members spoke in front of a replica of Yale’s giant lipstick sculpture, which was removed from Morse College last year. The makeshift sculpture was lined with pictures of the 1970 May Day Black Panthers protest at Yale, which was in defense of the Black Panthers who tortured and murdered Alex Rackley.
A woman wearing a KN-95 mask managed the microphone. One student wore a keffiyah. Another wore a Soviet Union football jersey. Students chanted “Hey hey, ho ho, Yale trustees have got to go,” as many used chalk to write their demands. Afterwards, Beinecke Plaza was covered in slogans such as “F*** YPD,” referring to the Yale Police Department, “Free Palestine,” and “Defund ICE.”
Senator Blumenthal told the Beacon that the demonstration was “amazing, really inspiring,” and said that “I hope Yale is listening. This is the voice of Yale.”
EJC’s recent protest was held in direct violation of Yale University policies, which require that “Yale community members who wish to use an outdoor space must obtain permission…. Except as provided in this policy, requests may be submitted only by registered student groups and organizations in good standing and university departments.” The policy was put in place after Yale students erected pro-Palestine encampments on campus in 2024.
Nevertheless, Yale administrators and the Yale Police Department stood quietly at the sidelines of the demonstration. Yale University did not respond to multiple requests for comment on why EJC has not faced disciplinary action for violating Yale’s policies regarding protests.
EJC’s Origins
According to the group’s website, EJC was founded in 2018 as a “a non-hierarchal organization of students, faculty, alumni and New Haven community members committed to holding Yale accountable for its unethical investment practices.” Its mission, though, has changed considerably in recent years. Originally concerned with Yale holdings in Puerto Rican debt, the group soon changed its focus to demanding “that Yale immediately and fully divest from the fossil fuel industry.”
Today, though, neither of these two goals appear in EJC’s messaging, which is now devoted to criticizing Yale for “powering Israel’s genocide,” investing in corporations connected to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and most recently, being undemocratic, as the Democratize Yale movement, founded in part by members of EJC, alleges.
Democratize Yale calls for Yale to exit the Trump settlement talks it began last year immediately, alongside other demands focused on eliminating the successor model of the Yale Board of Trustees and having open elections. Last year, part of the group’s activities included posting threatening pictures doxxing Board of Trustees members around campus, which are still uploaded on their Instagram page.
Today, the group continues to hang provocative posters on Yale buildings. “Trustees You Can’t Hide,” “Shared Governance Now,” “Fight Back Don’t Settle” are just a few of the banners that EJC hung last month. These messages were hung to coincide with the arrival of the Yale Board of Trustees on campus for their first in-person meeting of the academic year.
EJC had planned a protest against the Trustees, but cancelled it due to the rain. The banners are in violation of Yale University’s Postering, Chalking, Light Projection and Structures Policies which state that “Posters may be placed only on bulletin boards or other spaces that the university or a school has designated for posting. No posters may be placed on other campus spaces.”
From an activist group to a campus network
Although EJC is not a student organization and represents an extremely progressive political ideology, it has made allies with Yale institutions and national organizations through the Democratize Yale movement.
Among these allies is the Yale College Council (YCC). YCC Vice President Michelle Jimenez ran on EJC’s platform of divestment and received 1080 of the round one votes, approximately 16% of the Yale undergraduate student body. Now, the YCC is sponsoring protests planned by EJC that purposely break Yale policies. The YCC president and vice president have appeared at both of EJC’s past protests, and have sent emails to the entire student body inviting them to join. The YCC itself has voted to pass resolutions in favor of EJC’s demands.
At EJC’s first protest, held at the beginning of September, president of the YCC, Alex Chen, gave a speech in which he slammed Yale negotiating with the DOJ over an “unfounded admissions investigation” and claimed that Yale was under “the governance of an undemocratic, unaccountable Board of Trustees.”
YCC was also involved in creating the Democratize Yale infrastructure that EJC links to in their social media. Joseph Elsayyid ‘26 designed the Democratize Yale website through his role as chair of the Yale College Council Technology Division. He described to the Beacon how he “built the technological infrastructure behind the effort and focused on making it easy for people to learn more, follow updates, and get involved.”
EJC has also gained collaborations with other organizations. Their protests have been jointly sponsored by the Black Student Alliance at Yale, Mecha de Yale, and the Yale Chapter of the American Association of University Professors. Basma Elbagory, who spoke at the most recent EJC protest, leads Yalies4Palestine, another non-registered student group that had its club status revoked over violations of Yale policies.
Another one of EJC’s allies is More Perfect University, a national progressive organization which has produced several videos with EJC members. Their most recent collaboration is a video explaining how EJC chose to intentionally violate Yale protest policies. The caption reads “After students protested against genocide, Yale chose to silence speech. While the trustees meet in secret this weekend, we have a message for them: Democratize Yale. Give students a voice.”
Elias Theodore ‘27, Ward 1 Alder for New Haven, appears in the video, and in several other posts from EJC. In response to a question concerning his involvement in the organization, he responded that he “worked with EJC to mobilize students and community members to oppose a settlement and demand more transparency from Yale leadership.” Theodore denied any funding coming from More Perfect University, claiming that More Perfect University “edits content for us,” referring to EJC.
Questions around Funding
Given that EJC is not a student organization, it is ineligible to receive funding from Yale University, which only supplies funding to registered student organizations. Yet the organization’s activities are not cheap. Its recent protests included custom made shirts distributed to all attendees as well as a microphone and amplifier for protesters.
It is unclear where the funding for these events came from. Theodore claimed that this money was from “interested alumni, faculty, and some self-funding.” However, the alumni group which Theodore was likely referring to, Stand Up For Yale, did not respond to request for comment on this story. Elsayyid claimed that “my understanding is that the other fairly modest event costs have been handled by the advocacy groups involved.”
Yet EJC seems to be receiving substantial funding from somewhere, as evidenced by other activities. These include, according to the social media stories of several members of EJC, a recent retreat that the group took to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. When asked about this trip, Theodore did not comment on where the funding came from, or whether he was in attendance. Elsayyid said that, although he has “worked alongside and know people involved with the group,” he is not aware of where it receives its funding from.
EJC currently holds meetings at the now-defunct Yale Women’s Center, which Yale stripped of funding last year due to the Center’s explicitly left-wing partisan stance. Though the “Yale Women’s Center” sign has been removed, members have put a makeshift poster on the door.
EJC has received extensive coverage from the Yale Daily News, which has published multiple opinion pieces written by EJC organizers. While multiple students have spoken out in support of the movement, and hundreds of students have attended their protests, other students have criticized the organization.
“While YCC actively promotes Democratize Yale, it increasingly operates through EJC and outside activist networks with national political ties to advance it,” Shailen Sharma, president of the Yale College Republicans, wrote in a statement to the Beacon. “If Yale gets this settlement wrong, EJC and its outside allies won’t bear the financial cost of refusing to settle; the students YCC was elected to represent will.”
The Beacon reached out to dozens of EJC members for comment. Most did not respond. Those who did refused to comment. YCC’s president and vice president did not respond to requests for comment.