Stanford and Climate Change: A statement of the Board of Trustees l Stanford News

April 25, 2016

• In a statement, the Board of Trustees underlines Stanford's commitment to battling climate change, highlights university initiatives to address it and responds to Fossil Free Stanford's request to divest from the fossil fuel industry. The trustees have concluded that Stanford's endowment will not divest, based on a review of criteria in the university's Statement on Investment Responsibility and input from the Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility and Licensing. The trustees also announce a new climate task force that will solicit new ideas from across the Stanford community for addressing climate change. 

Is Divesting From Fossil Fuels the Best Tactic for Tackling Climate Change? (Opinion) l The Guardian

By: Suzanne McGee, April 24, 2016

• Earth Day will see calls on college campuses to pull funds from carbon-producing fuels, but activists should consider positive ways to change energy policy. At the very least, divestment advocates should consider broadening their demands. Their vision of a perfect college endowment portfolio shouldn’t be one that is simply purified by being stripped of fossil fuel investments, but that acts to create an alternative. That would be great for the climate, and probably good news, financially, for their college endowments as well, helping ensure future generations of students at their alma mater have access to tuition help and great educational resources.

Divestment is the Best Option (Opinon) l The Heights

By: Sean Sudol, April 24, 2016

• Divestment is not the final answer to the climate crisis. The holdings of all American university endowments in fossil fuel companies account for less than 1 percent of these companies’ total market capital. No one actively campaigning to make this change believes that it will ruin the fossil fuel industry economically, and thus automatically lower the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. But divestment cannot be considered in economic terms alone. It is more importantly a political, social, and moral movement that speaks to a vision of a just and sustainable world—and it is gaining traction among more and more students across the country. 

Columbia University Students Occupy Library, Demand Fossil Fuel Divestment l USA Today

By: Caleb Diehl, April 22, 2016

• On Earth Day 100 students laid down mattresses, sleeping bags and tents in a plaza outside the Columbia University library in solidarity with students protesting inside, according to a report from the student newspaper, the Columbia Spectator. Friday morning, six students remained in the library, where they have been for a week, despite being threatened with suspension. 

Editorial: Against Divestment from Private Prisons at Princeton l The Princetonian

April 21, 2016

• During the Spring Undergraduate Student Government elections at Princeton University this week, students voted on a referendum calling on the University and the Princeton Investment Corporation to “divest from corporations that draw profit from incarceration, drug control and immigrant deportation policies.” The Board has consistently argued against divestment of the University’s endowment. Although the referendum did not meet the minimum voting requirement of  one-third  the student body, the Board urges the University to reject future petitions to divest unless there is substantial consensus and more conclusive evidence.

Editorial: UMass Must Lead on Fossil Fuel Divestment l Daily Hampshire Gazette

April 21, 2016

• A student-led group called Divest UMass has focused attention on divestment for the past 10 days with actions on the Amherst campus, including a sit-in at the Whitmore Administration Building which resulted in 34 arrests when protesters did not leave at closing time two nights last week. The time is now for the University of Massachusetts to exercise socially responsible leadership by fully divesting from fossil fuels.

Divestment From Private Prisons and Fossil Fuels Can Work l The Hill

By: Former Rep. Ron Dellums (D-Calif.), Anthony Williams and Silver Hannon, April 21, 2016

• Two powerful student movements are joining forces with calls for divestment, focusing on two calamities that threaten their future security: mass incarceration and climate change. Just like with the struggle against South African apartheid, where activists of yesterday held the moral position that our monies should not be used to prop up inhuman and racist systems, student activists today are calling for complete and total divestment from private prisons and fossil fuel companies.

Amherst College Students Seek Divestment l Daily Hampshire Gazette

By: Scott Merzbach, April 20, 2016

• At Amherst College, eliminating oil and gas stocks from the investment portfolio has not yet happened, prompting students involved in the Divest Amherst group to call on Amherst Town Meeting to put pressure on the school’s board of trustees to make changes in this practice. At the Wednesday session of Town Meeting, members are expected to be asked to endorse a resolution so “that the college will join the institutions that have already divested and leverage its national reputation to promote divestment.”

Boston University’s Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing Proposes Creation of Board Climate Plan l BU Today

By: Art Jahnke, April 20, 2016

• The Boston University Board of Trustees was presented on Friday with a broad-based proposal to expand the University’s sustainability initiatives, as well as a recommendation to divest from companies that continue to explore for new fossil fuel reserves or that extract coal and tar sands. The proposal, put forth by the University’s Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing (ACSRI), also recommends that the University hire endowment investment managers with expertise in renewable energy sources and incorporate a comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CAP) in BU’s Strategic Plan.

Classes Cancelled at Hampshire College to Address Student Divestment Demands l masslive.com

By: Diane Lederman, April 19, 2016

•  Classes at Hampshire College were canceled Tuesday afternoon, allowing the campus to address student demands including full divestment, greater student involvement in governance and support for underrepresented communities including undocumented students.