Dive Brief:
- Swarthmore College’s board of managers announced this weekend it will not divest from fossil fuels, refusing to bend to student pressure following a 32-day sit-in earlier this year.
- The New York Times reports that the college stands by its stated investment guidelines, which preference long-term financial results for its nearly $2 billion endowment over social objectives.
- Swarthmore announced its commitment to reducing fossil fuel consumption and outlined a host of sustainability efforts before explaining the decision to maintain its investments, a conclusion that was four years in the making.
Dive Insight:
Divestment from fossil fuels has become the latest cause célèbre on college campuses. Students have rallied around it, and a handful of college administrations have shifted their investments in response. Just last month, Syracuse University divested from fossil fuel stocks, becoming the most largely endowed higher education institution to do so. Stanford partially divested in 2014, taking all of its endowment money out of coal mining. Socially responsible investment tools are often more expensive to manage and have lower returns on investment, making them less desirable from a purely financial perspective.