Image credit: Cyrah Gayle
We fight for a fossil-free endowment because as University members we have direct ties to the endowment. And as members of broader communities whose land, health, and wellbeing are at threat, we do not accept that the University continues to fund climate change.
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UChicago claims to foster critical inquiry and an understanding of history, yet our administration insists on maintaining investments that are anti-science and will put us firmly on the wrong side of history. We are a massive institution with the resources and brainpower to develop an alternative plan for investing our endowment. Our refusal to do… Read More »Hannah Wilson-Black
As the 3rd generation of 4 that have attended UChicago I feel that it is important to understand the inheritance that one is passing onto future generations. A University surely should understand that, but by not divesting from fossil fuels UChicago is demonstrating a disregard for future generations. UChicago is helping to destroy the planet… Read More »Adam de Sola Pool
Our nation and our world are facing climate crisis. Institutions of higher education must divest from the source of this crisis – fossil fuel companies. While immediately switching to 100% renewable energy may not be possible, continuing to invest in fossil fuel companies is immoral. UChicago should divest now.
The University of Chicago claims to follow the science in wishing to limit the Global Climate Change, which is known to result from human production of greenhouse gases. However, the administration is hypocritical in refusing to divest from companies that generate greenhouse gases. There seem to be two excuses that they use for this outrageous… Read More »Robert Michaelson
UChicago has a huge endowment, and we should invest wisely for the future of the University and its members. Fossil fuel investments are not healthy in the long term financially as well as environmentally. Do better UChicago!
I support divestment from fossil fuels because it is a responsible decision for both the planet and for our financial well-being. It makes me sad to see how the continued burning of fossil fuels is causing devastating consequences to our planet, including rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and air pollution. I love the environment,… Read More »Catherine Wimmer
As a community dominated by and ostensibly largely for the benefit of young people, UChicago should have the future of those young people in mind in many ways. By continuing to invest its endowment in fossil fuels and polluting industries, the university is threatening its students’ futures with escalating climate catastrophe.
The University of Chicago holds tremendous power as an institution, and as a student, I believe it should be using its power for the good by taking a firm stance against the fossil fuel industry. I support divestment because I want to see the endowment money invested into bettering our community, not threatening it.
I support divestment because I am passionate about our planet and the longevity of life on earth, as a young person from fire-ridden California growing up in the midst of an ecological disaster. I want the university I attend to make a change for the better and pull out of the fossil fuel industry which… Read More »Viviana Hilario
An institution that’s supposed to enrich our futures shouldn’t be invested in the forces that will destroy it.
I come from a drought-ridden California with my heritage from a typhoon-prone Philippines, both of which will face stronger consequences of growing climate change.
As a graduate student in the PME department researching energy storage materials, I find it hypocritical and short-sighted that the university still clings to investments which are fundamentally at odds with their desire to become a world leader in sustainability research. As a likely benefactor of the endowment through my graduate stipend, it feels unconscionable… Read More »Aaron Peng
Major universities like UChicago command sizable endowments with the power to change the fossil fuel funding landscape—through financial action and through signaling. As an alum, it is of huge personal significance to see this fight through.
I always say on tours that I’m really proud to go to a school as value-driven as UChicago, and I think this is a notable area where UChicago is failing my and institutional values.