September 13, 2010

To: Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.

President and CEO, TIAA-CREF

Dear Mr. Ferguson,

First off, we wish to welcome to you to the University of Massachusetts and, in particular, to our Boston
campus. We are very pleased that the head of an organization that prides itself on its work “serving the greater
good” has agreed to speak here at UMass Boston, which we believe is also committed to this goal. As the only
public university in the city, our urban mission commits us to providing high-quality, affordable, accessible
education for all. As UMass Boston faculty and staff, then, we are committed not simply to education but also
to serving the greater Boston community.

Many of us also use TIAA-CREF for our retirement plans. We do so in part because we admire your
company’s commitment to socially responsible investing. We therefore write to you today not only as
concerned citizens and educators, but also as clients. We hope you will read what we have to say with both of
these commitments in mind.

We are gravely concerned that TIAA-CREF earns money for our retirement funds by investing in companies
that perpetuate and profit from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. For example, TIAA-CREF
invests substantial funds in Caterpillar, a company whose bulldozers routinely demolish Palestinians’ homes
and uproot their olive trees. Both of these actions are not simply cruel and destructive, but also illegal under
international law. Israel could not undertake them without Caterpillar’s help and, it must be pointed out, the
financial support of TIAA-CREF. (We’re sure we need not remind you that a 23-year-old American citizen,
Rachel Corrie, was bulldozed to death in 2003 by the Israeli army as she stood in front of a Caterpillar
bulldozer intent on destroying a Palestinian family’s home in Rafah.) TIAA-CREF also invests in Elbit Systems,
a company that makes killer drones which Israel uses for its illegal, targeted assassinations of Palestinian
civilians in the West Bank and Gaza. These acts are so heinous that the Norwegian Finance Ministry recently
divested its own pension fund from this company. TIAA-CREF also invests in Motorola, a company that
manufactures the surveillance equipment Israel uses at checkpoints, watchtowers, and sniper stations
throughout the West Bank and in tandem with its illegal Separation Wall. These surveillance systems are
essential to maintaining the many illegal settlements Israel has built inside the West Bank. Finally, TIAA-CREF
invests in Veolia, a French company that intends to build a light rail system connecting the illegally annexed
East Jerusalem with the many illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, as well as Northrup Grumman,
which supplies the Israeli Army with parts for the Apache AH64D Longbow Helicopter, the radar for F-16
combat jets, and Longbow Hellfire II missiles. Weapons made by Northrup Grumman have been used by
Israel to kill thousands of Palestinians in the past decade alone.

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In 2009, TIAA-CREF divested from four petrochemical companies that were profiting from
Sudan’s oppression of the people Darfur and exploitation of its natural resources. We admire your company’s
decision to divest funds from Darfur, and believe that divesting from Israel’s occupation is of the same ethical
stature and just as urgent. We believe that until TIAA-CREF divests from these companies, it stands in
violation of its own principles and is complicit with Israel’s breaches of international law and violations of
human rights.

We raise this issue with you because of our shared commitment to social responsibility. We know that you,
like us, are appalled by the terrible injustices perpetuated by Israel’s occupation, and that you would do what
you could to stop them if you thought it might make a difference. We write to you today in the belief that
there is something you can do to put a stop to these injustices. As concerned clients, people of conscience, and
citizens of the world, we urge you to divest TIAA-CREF’s funds from companies that profit from Israel’s
illegal occupation.

Sincerely,