Organizers at the three universities accused school administrators of illegally investing in global warming energy sources.
what’s happening?
According to the Guardian, faculty, students, and alumni from Columbia University, Tulane University, and the University of Virginia have filed legal complaints against the universities with their respective states’ attorneys general for violating the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act. submitted.
The law, adopted in every state except Pennsylvania, requires nonprofit organizations to be “prudent” and “loyal” when making charitable contributions.
The plaintiffs filed the complaint on Earth Day last April, with the help of the environmental advocacy group Climate Defense Project, and said the program would invest an estimated millions of dollars in coal, oil, oil, and other products under the law. and breached commitments to climate action and research. And gas.
“The privileges that Columbia University enjoys as a nonprofit organization come with a responsibility to ensure that its resources are directed to socially beneficial purposes,” the Columbia University students wrote.
University of Virginia students agreed, saying the university would benefit socially and financially by distancing itself from an industry whose business model is based on “environmental destruction and social injustice.” .
Why is investment a concern?
The Guardian reported that students are holding university officials and governors to account for accepting payment for their roles with dirty energy companies and allowing the companies to influence research projects.
They pointed to the role of the gas, oil and coal industries in overheating the planet, and that cities where universities are located are feeling the effects of global warming.
“Fossil fuel industry activities and infrastructure are accelerating coastal erosion, which, combined with rising sea levels, will threaten future New Orleans and Tulane campuses,” said Emma de Leon, an environmental studies and communications major at Tulane University. There is a possibility of flooding.”
“This semester alone, there have been two floods on campus that have forced students to walk through calf-deep water or be trapped inside buildings.”
What else is going on in terms of investments?
Alex Marquardt, executive director of the Climate Defense Project, added that the students met with state legislators from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Mexico.
Mayu Bowerman, a fourth-year student studying urban planning and environmental studies at the University of Virginia, said the charges “send our message to the university that the situation is urgent and requires drastic action.” “This is the next step in demonstrating that
The application is also part of the growing momentum for climate change activism among young people. The Guardian said students at 19 other universities had made similar complaints.
Marquardt said some schools, including Harvard University, Cornell University and Princeton University, have agreed to divest from fossil fuels after complaints.
Meanwhile, high school students in Colorado and Washington state. Washington DC is lobbying to make its school system greener, with Cambridge University students successfully getting executives to temporarily suspend donations from dirty energy companies.
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