Rutgers submits to climate activists' demands

The Board of Governors and Board of Trustees of Rutgers University in New Jersey voted on March 9 to divest itself from fossil fuel companies. With the move, Rutgers joins other well-known colleges factoring the scientific claims of the sustainability and climate change movements in their investment strategies.  

The vote, according to one report, was partly a victory for the Endowment Justice Collective, a faction of students at Rutgers advocating “ethical divestment from fossil fuels, apartheid, the war machine and the prison industrial complex.” 

Rutgers president Jonathan Holloway said the decision affirmed the values of the university. In March 2021, Rutgers University announced that its endowment assets totaled $1.48 billion as of June 2020. 

[RELATED: Columbia University joins Ivy League opposition to fossil fuels]

“This decision aligns with Rutgers’ mission to advance public health and social justice,” he said after the vote, “while the university has taken steps recently to limit investments in this area, approving a policy of divestment from fossil fuels is a significant expression of the values of our institution and our broader community.”

Other schools have enacted similar proposals, as Campus Reform has reported previously. 

On February 25, Columbia University vowed not to invest in “publicly traded oil and gas companies.” And in September 2019, the University of California System announced it would divest from fossil fuels and shop for environmentally conscious investments in “climate change solutions.” 

”Hanging on to fossil fuel assets is a financial risk,” said a UC official at the time, “We continue to believe there are more attractive investment opportunities in new energy sources than in old fossil fuels.” 

Follow the author of this article: Dion J. Pierre