Debate continues over divesting the UNH endowment from fossil fuel companies, with two educational events planned

Since September, students at the University of New Hampshire have been calling on the administration and the UNH Foundation to divest the school’s endowment from fossil fuel corporations. In November, the group delivered a petition requesting divestment that was signed by 1,000 students to President Mark Huddleston’s office.

“We want to show the school and the community that this is important at this moment in dealing with the issue of climate change,” says Fiona Gettinger, coordinator of the Student Environmental Action Coalition.

Huddleston will meet with the group on Jan. 29, and Gettinger’s group is planning a teach-in on Jan. 24 in advance of the meeting.  Meanwhile, the university is planning its own presentation on Feb. 11, hosting a campus dialogue on “Investing for a Sustainable Future.”

“We look forward to a comprehensive discussion on the university’s portfolio management,” says Tina Sawtelle, vice president and treasurer of the UNH Foundation.

At the student-run divestment teach-in, national leaders in the growing campus divestment movement will talk about the future of responsible investments in relation to climate change.

At the teach-in, Gettinger says, “Joe Keefe of Pax World Funds will be explaining more about how divestment from fossil fuels and reinvestment in socially and environmentally responsible companies is both possible and profitable for the university.” Keefe is president and CEO of Pax World Management LLC and of Pax World Funds, which offers investments in businesses considered to be sustainable.

“Back in November, we were told that the main goal of the UNH endowment was to maximize profits, and that those of us who are leading the divestment campaign should introduce ourselves to students on financial aid, because they assume that would be diminished if the divestment campaign went forward and divested from fossil fuel companies. That is not actually true,” Gettinger says.

Stephen Mulkey, president of Unity College in Maine, will share a video statement on how his school carefully researched the topic, then voted to divest its $13 million endowment fund of stock in fossil fuel companies over the next five years. Shea Reister, campus divestment organizer at Better Future Project, will also speak. Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, will share a prepared video statement.

Prime Buchholz of Portsmouth serves as an investment advisor to the UNH Foundation board of directors. Sawtelle says the Foundation’s “primary responsibility as stewards of donor-endowed funds is to generate the maximum amount of return for UNH to support students, faculty and programs. We rely on our investment fund managers to make the best investment selections and have limited ability to isolate specific companies in which our managers invest.”

And, at this point, Sawtelle says that though the foundation recognizes student interest in seeking better alignment between the university’s focus on sustainability programs and the Foundation’s investment policy, “divestment in fossil fuels is not recommended by the foundation’s investment and finance committee.”

The Student Environmental Action Coalition plans for the teach-in to help make the group’s financial case and share strategies for divestment learned from other campuses, like Unity College. They also hope the teach-in will shine a spotlight on the school’s commitment to addressing sustainability and climate change.

“Now we’re looking at President Huddleston because he is the face of this university and he has made a lot of statements saying he is very supportive of energy sources that are cleaner, and he’s on board of the (American College & University) Presidents’ Climate Commitment network. He’s making all these statements, but it doesn’t seem like he’s following through with them. We’re holding him to what he said, to support this campaign,” Gettinger says.

For its part, Sawtelle says the Foundation continues to look for ways to better connect the university’s position on sustainability with its endowment, “including creating investment vehicles for donors who wish to direct their giving to funds that emphasize sustainability.”

“Additionally, we are working with student members of Net Impact on the research they are doing on sustainable investing,” Sawtelle says. “But as a general rule, it is critical that UNH Foundation funds be managed to generate maximum returns. Affordability and access to higher education remain our number-one priority as an institution, and we have to rely more and more on private donations in the wake of historic cuts by the state.”

On that issue, the Student Environmental Action Coalition is working with the campus Peace and Justice League and their campaign called “New Hampshire Fund Our Futures,” which works alongside the school administration to try to restore aid lost when the state legislature cut the school’s funding by 49 percent during the budget process of 2011. The group hopes restoration of state aid will create an opportunity to try a new tack with the endowment.

The divestment movement originated by students at a handful of schools in the Boston area, and is now national in scale, supported by Students for a Just and Stable Future and 350.org. The UNH students also work with the Responsible Endowments Coalition, a non-profit that engages higher education institutions in the responsible investment movement.

“This teach-in is to prepare students going into that meeting on Jan. 29 with all of the facts and also to educate the community at the same time. We’re looking forward to Tuesday,” Gettinger says.