25 signatures reached
To: Board of Trustees
Divest North Central - Fossil Free NCC
We call on the College Board of Trustees to align its investment strategy with its commitment to sustainability and environmental leadership.
In order to further expand the College's commitment and provide leadership beyond campus initiatives, North Central College should:
• Curb its present and future investment in the fossil fuel industry, specifically the top 200 publicly traded companies and more specifically - COAL.
• Earnestly work toward divesting its existing direct fossil fuel holdings within 7 years - COAL within 3 years.
Why is this important?
• As a teaching institution, North Central recognizes a special responsibility to introduce, support, and encourage core sustainability values and actions into all aspects of campus life.
• The College has positioned itself as a green institution, working toward developing a socially just, environmentally functional campus community.
• Divestment from fossil fuel expands the College's voice beyond campus, drawing on these same core sustainability values and actions in harmony with a global call to action.
Throughout its history, North Central has shown leadership in times of controversy and injustice, perhaps most notably in 1960, when inviting Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to speak on campus. The College continues to bring diverse and dissenting voices to campus. Endowment fund divestiture presents an alternative opportunity for the College to voice its values and teach through example.
On campus, the College has invested in reducing the campus fleet’s reliance on conventional fuels, developing and promoting alternative methods of convenient campus travel, and using alternative energy sources in future buildings. An investment strategy aligned with alternative, renewable energy fits with the College's sustainability and economic goals.
In an age when billionaires are reinvesting funds in renewable, fossil-free resources and reaping profits, the North Central Board of Trustees should reexamine its financial reliance on an expiring industry. Long-term, fossil-free investments are both profitable and sustainable.