Divest Clark was founded in hopes to “ensure institutional longevity through the creation of financial returns,” according to their Facebook page. They worked hard this past year to get Clark “University to divest from its endowment all investments in fossil fuel companies,” as the Board of Trustees’ statement said.
“The Clark University endowment fossil fuel assets represent approximately $37.2M or 12.11% of the endowment,” the club’s Facebook page stated, “the mutual funds representing fossil fuel investments at Clark are collectively holding losses of -2.10%.”
The club believes that “Clark must divest our fossil fuel assets in more sustainably and socially responsible investments.”
The Board of Trustees responded to the club’s proposal.
“After careful consideration, the Board of Trustees has concluded that the activities of the companies referenced in the Divest Clark proposal do not meet the criteria of divestment, established under the Guidelines and Procedures for Review of Shareholder Issues, as being ‘immoral under broadly shared concepts of human rights and human dignity,’” the statement said.
The full statement by the Board can be read here.
But Divest Clark believes that the Board’s section “concerning the administration’s response to our petitioning is missing some key information.”
Her Campus at Clark published their press release. You can read it here.
The club will host a “Rejection Denied – Divest Clark Public Meeting” on March 15 at 8 pm. The discussion will pertain to “how we will tell our University #RejectionDenied,” according to their Facebook page.