Request for the Formation of an Ad Hoc Committee on Coal and Oil Investments

Abstract

This white paper argues that the University of Michigan's Board of Regents should form a committee to consider divesting the University’s endowment from coal and oil investments. The paper details the University's three-prong test – created by the school's prior divestments from companies doing business in apartheid South Africa and from tobacco companies – for determining whether to form a committee to consider divestment. The test requires: 1) a consensus on campus surrounding the issue; 2) that the activities of the particular industries must be antithetical to the University’s core values; and 3) that the subject industries must be uniquely responsible for the problem.

The white paper explains why coal and oil investments meet this standard. First, there is a consensus regarding climate change across all levels of campus. The Graham Sustainability Institute’s most recent survey found that around 89% of undergraduate students, 93% of graduate students, and 93% of faculty think that climate change is happening. The study found that a similar percentage believed humans are contributing to it, and that the issue is important to them personally. A consensus is further demonstrated by the educational and extra-curricular pursuits of students and the operational changes the University has made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Few significant issues, if any, enjoy this level of campus support.

Second, the activities of the coal and oil industries are antithetical to the University’s core values. In two ways this is true. These industries offend the University’s core values of sustainability and academic integrity. These were the crucial elements in the University’s choice to divest from tobacco companies in 2002.

And third, the coal and oil industries are uniquely responsible for climate change. The pollution from their industries is a chief driver of climate change, and their political and misinformation campaigns have undermined progress on this issue.