100 signatures reached
To: President Michael Roth and the Board of Trustees
Wes, Divest!
Direct the Wesleyan Investment Office to stop any new investments in fossil fuel companies.
Instruct the Investment Office to immediately begin work with the Committee for Investor Responsibility to create a plan for careful fossil fuel divestment from the Wesleyan Endowment, such that within a timely and responsible manner none of its directly-held or commingled assets include holdings in fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds as found on the Carbon Tracker list
Instruct the Wesleyan Investment Office to release quarterly updates to the Committee for Investor Responsibility for dissemination to the Wesleyan community, both detailing progress made towards full divestment and providing information on the holdings of the endowment pool and of index funds within the General Endowment Pool
Add divestment from fossil fuels into Wesleyan’s climate goals
Why is this important?
Investing in any market is inherently political, and we’d like our endowment’s investments to reflect the values of our student body and the University mission statement. Fossil fuel extraction destroys communities. Fossil fuels do not just threaten the climate; they also threaten the people in the communities where oil, coal and gas are taken out of the ground. Wesleyan has the power to back up its high community standards of social and environmental justice by ending financial support of these industries.