Green crusaders cheered a decision by the University of Massachusetts Foundation’s Board of Directors to purge the university’s direct fossil fuel assets, even though such assets are but a mere drop in the bucket of the school’s overall endowment.
The foundation, which monitors and allocates UMass’ massive $700 million endowment fund, voted unanimously Wednesday to jettison the school’s fossil fuel assets equaling $5 million.
The move to jettison oil and gas was in response to divestment protests in early April orchestrated by environmental groups such as 350.org and Divest and Invest, both of which are the brainchild of divestment champion Bill McKibben. The Divest UMass protest attracted 250 people, most of whom chose to participate in a sit-in at the UMass Amherst Whitmore Administration Building — the sit-in eventually led to 34 arrests.
“I think it’s the best news I’ve heard in an age! It’s the result of great organizing by students and faculty across the Bay State — and coming as it does in the hottest year ever recorded it’s a great morale boost to the climate movement,” McKibben wrote in an email Wednesday afternoon.
UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy joined McKibben in praise of the foundation’s decision.
“The foundation’s action today makes a powerful statement about UMass’s commitment to combating climate change and protecting our environment,” Subbaswamy said in a statement Wednesday. “It also speaks volumes about our students’ passionate commitment to social justice and the environment. It is largely due to their advocacy that this important issue has received the attention that it deserves.”
The financial impact of divestment is likely to be minimal — or even imperceptible, as the university has a mere one percent of its $770 million endowment sunk in the fossil fuel industry.
University officials say UMass President Martin T. Meehan, who initially said the university would divest only from direct assets, plans to set aside funds dedicated to green technology and clean energy.
Meehan plans to use the President’s Science and Technology Initiative Fund to ensure further funding for sustainable projects. The fund distributed nearly $1 million in research grants to UMass faculty researchers.
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