Lewis & Clark College’s board voted to divest endowment holdings in weapons manufacturers after sustained student activism demanding ethical investment choices. Trustees said the policy change is not tied to a single geopolitical event but reflects long‑running student pressure on investment strategy and transparency commitments. The trustees’ decision comes as public confidence in U.S. higher education continues to slide: a Pew Research Center snapshot shows roughly seven in 10 Americans believe the higher education system is heading in the wrong direction. That decline crosses party lines and is fueling political pressure on campus governance and curricular choices. Institutions are confronting a dual challenge—responding to student activism around values‑based investing while contending with broader public skepticism that can affect state funding, enrollment and trustee appointments. Boards increasingly face polarized stakeholder demands, making endowment policy and public messaging higher‑stakes governance issues.