As LSU continues to see protests calling on the university to divest from Israel, the Reveille set out to uncover the extent of LSU’s investments and collaborations with Israeli universities and institutions.
The United States has long supported Israel through diplomatic, military and economic partnerships, and LSU’s connections with Israel reflect a small part of that broader relationship. Though LSU’s involvement is limited, it includes collaborations in cutting-edge energy research and major international oil companies.
In 2019, per request of the then associate vice president for research and economic development, LSU established a Memorandum of Understanding with Haifa University, marking its first official partnership with an Israeli institution.
The agreement expired on April 5, 2019, and has not been renewed since, according to Laura Dean, LSU’s director of global partnerships.
“As of today, we have no active partnerships in Israel,” Dean said. “This was the first and only partnership established with an institution in Israel.”
However, one of LSU’s most significant collaborative efforts emerged in 2020 when the university joined the U.S.-Israel Energy Center, an initiative aimed at advancing fossil energy and natural gas technologies.
In joining the initiative, LSU’s College of Engineering partnered with several private companies and American and Israeli universities, including Tel Aviv University, as part of a consortium led by Tulane University.
Despite this, Leonard Ray, an associate professor of political science and director of LSU’s International Studies Program, says that LSU’s connections with Israeli institutions have been limited both in scope and significance.
“We don’t have a study abroad presence in Israel. . . and any Israeli funding for LSU faculty would be small and intermittent,” Ray said. “Israel has not been a priority for LSU, and LSU has not been a priority for Israel.”
But according to Ryan Spalt, a biochemistry junior and president of Students for a Democratic Society at LSU, there are less visible ways the university benefits from its ties to Israel, particularly through its longstanding partnership with Chevron.
Chevron, recognized as a key economic partner of the Israeli government, plays a significant role in the region’s energy landscape.
LSU on its website describes Chevron as “one of the most valuable and long-term partners of the Mechanical Engineering Program and the MIE Department.”
While difficult to document, LSU’s connections to Israeli institutions reveal complexities that extend beyond individual partnerships.
LSU, Tulane and Loyola University New Orleans are yet to respond to calls to divest.
