fossil-fuel

Professors Rajiv Sethi, Stephanie Pfirman, and Sandra Goldmark explain Barnard’s unique divestment plan, which concentrates on scientific integrity.

Citing “the threat of catastrophic climate change,” a committee tasked with advising Columbia’s trustees on its investments has recommended that the University divest from companies who mine coal as an energy source.

"I promise you, I will not starve you if you try to take over a building," University President Lee Bollinger joked during Columbia Divest for Climate Justice's last meeting with him and a few trustees. "Starvation is not a strategy I will follow."

One year ago, Divest Barnard was invited to speak in front of the board of trustees, the individuals with the highest positions of authority at Barnard. The Presidential Task Force to Examine Divestment was born out of that meeting. Today, we are proud that the Task Force has come to a consensus and is recommending divestment to the board's Committee on Investments.

Today is Global Divestment Day, and members of Barnard Columbia Divest for Climate Justice will be attending a rally downtown to celebrate a recent milestone of fossil fuel divestment in New York City: The New School announced its divestment last week! The dominoes are falling closer to home. Now, the main question is whether Columbia will be a leader in this movement, or wait until most other universities have taken action. So far, the Advisory Committee for Socially Responsible Investing is making Columbia out to be a follower.

As students across the country campaign for their institutions to divest from fossil fuels, a new student group, DivestJTS, is pushing for the Jewish Theological Seminary to do the same.

In the Spectator article "Some Earth Institute faculty members decline to sign divestment letter sent to Bollinger," Steven Cohen, the Earth Institute's executive director, is quoted, contending that to "worry about institutional divestment" is "vaguely hypocritical" because "everybody here uses fossil fuels—our homes, our cars, our entire civilization is based on it."

Earlier in March, 30 Earth Institute members released a statement that seemed to be an unsurprising call for coal divestment. What the Columbia community may have missed is that the Institute's statement actually supports divesting from all fossil fuel companies listed in the Carbon Underground 200, just as Columbia Divest for Climate Justice has been advocating for over three years.

Barnard's board of trustees will vote this spring whether or not to divest the college's endowment from fossil fuels—but no matter the outcome, the decision will largely be a symbolic, rather than financial, move for Barnard.