“The costs of divestment would be substantial, while its benefits are uncertain.” That’s how Henrick Bessembinder, Professor of Finance at Arizona State University’s Carey School of Business, summarized his recent study calculating the costs associated with the growing call for universities to divest their endowments from fossil fuel investments. Usually, pro-divestment students stress the “symbolic”...
A handful of student protesters gathered on Ho Plaza Thursday afternoon to denounce Cornell’s policy reversal on the Climate Action Plan to achieve campus “carbon neutrality” by 2035. The student protesters, numbering about 25, took turns speaking about why they disagree with Garrett’s position. Then then went into various chants and slogans, including “Cornell, step...
Cornell’s Board of Trustees rejected a proposal to divest the university’s endowment from the top 100 oil companies over the next 20 years. Instead, the board adopted guidelines to determine when it should divest the university’s endowment for “socially responsible reasons” according to Cornell Chronicle. Only when a company’s actions are “morally reprehensible” will the...
On Thursday, Cornell students and some faculty members took to Ho Plaza to protest issues like the minimum wage and student loan debt as part of the national campaign called the Million Student March. The protests began their demonstration outside Willard Straight Hall, taking turns to deliver speeches. Some carried signs reading “No justice, no...
A report released on Tuesday by the National Association of Scholars (NAS) describes the campus fossil fuel divestment movement (FFDM) as a nationally-organized political campaign aimed at fostering deep-seated hatred of fossil fuel companies and promoting political demagoguery. According to a press release, the report, titled Inside Divestment: The Illiberal Movement to Turn a Generation...
All five of Cornell’s shared governance bodies—undergraduate, graduate and professional, employee, faculty, and university assembly—have adopted resolutions calling on the University to divest its endowment from fossil fuels. In a renewed push to achieve this aim, professor David Shalloway, molecular biology and genetics, will represent all five representative bodies in a presentation to Cornell’s Board...