logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Amid Frustrating Climate Talks, UMass Foundation Divests from Coal

Shafaq Hasan
December 4, 2015
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

Divest

December 3, 2015; The Republican (Springfield, MA)

For the next week or so, leaders from 190 countries around the world are channeling their conversations at the climate talks in Paris into fixing, changing, or dumping their strategies for combating the ever-growing presence of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. As to be expected, the talks are progressing at a snail’s pace, and protestors in Paris have found novel ways to express their frustration.

As the world powers continue their tug-of-war, one foundation in the United States is taking a much more direct approach to addressing the dangers of climate change. The University of Massachusetts’s Foundation, the separate nonprofit entity governing the university’s $770 million endowment, pledged to divest all of its holdings in coal companies, joining a growing list of universities around the country making divestment a priority.

“We believe this action sends an important message about the urgency of climate change and the University community’s commitment to addressing it,” said the executive vice president of the foundation, Charles J. Pagnam, in a statement. “At the same time, our policy protects the Foundation’s primary mission of maximizing the investment returns on funds donated for research, academic programs, financial aid and other purposes.”

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

The foundation’s board made the decision, and the Socially Responsible Investing Advisory Committee, composed created last year supported and composed of UMass students, faculty and alumni supported the plan to divest. There have also been strong efforts from student groups supporting divestment as well.

UMass joins the University of Maine and many other colleges that have now divested, including Stanford University, the University of California, Georgetown University, Syracuse University, and the University of Glasgow, among others. The foundation’s willingness to listen to its community is in stark contrast to the uphill battle other college campuses have faced. NPQ has reported on the battles taking and taken place at both Harvard University and New York University.

In the ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit that a student group brought against Harvard, the students said that as a nonprofit entity, Harvard had the responsibility to be a leader in the climate change field by being socially responsible about its investments. Students and alumni have similarly taken NYU to task for refusing to divest, even encouraging alumni to withhold donations.

Although the road to divestment at UMass and other universities has not been easy—indeed, divestment activists at UMass met many of the same roadblocks from the administration as NYU and Harvard—the eventual decision signals the recognition of the desires of their community. Nationally, environmental groups are campaigning President Barack Obama to cancel an upcoming land auction to divide off property for oil and gas drilling. The timing of the auction is particularly auspicious right in the middle of the climate talks.

“Here we are, negotiating a climate treaty in Paris, and the core point of this treaty is keeping fossil fuels in the ground,” said Jason Kowalski, president of environmental group 350.org, to Mashable. “In the midst of that, we’re holding an auction, and the government itself is selling fossil fuels to the highest bidder?” Will another university step up for climate reform before President Obama?—Shafaq Hasan

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Shafaq Hasan

Shafaq Hasan is a Community Builder at NPQ. She is a graduate of Brandeis University where she majored in Art History and spent most of her time working in the office of the student newspaper as the Opinions editor, and later, as an Associate editor. As an undergraduate, she was also a research assistant for the Justice Brandeis Law Project at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism from 2011 to 2014.

More about: climate changedivestment campaignsEnvironmentHigher EducationNonprofit NewsPolicy

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Student Loans Update: What You Need to Know
Marian Conway
Solidarity on Campus: A Faculty Union’s Learnings from COVID-19
Todd Wolfson
How Environmental Education Is Moving into High Schools
Ayana Albertini-Fleurant, Dr. Janelle M. Burke, Kari Fulton, Joe Hurst and Ariel Murphy Bedford
Cancelling Student Debt Is Necessary for Racial Justice
Kitana Ananda
To Save Legal Aid, Expand Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Zoë Polk
A Movement for Free College
Alí Bustamante

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
Student Loans Update: What You Need to Know
Marian Conway
Solidarity on Campus: A Faculty Union’s Learnings from...
Todd Wolfson
How Environmental Education Is Moving into High Schools
Ayana Albertini-Fleurant, Dr. Janelle M. Burke, Kari Fulton, Joe Hurst and Ariel Murphy Bedford

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.