8/18/2019 Divest UMass
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Dear Chancellor Subbaswamy,
We are reaching out to you, as members of the UMass Fossil Fuel
Divestment Campaign, to ask
that you stand with us, and lead with us. In this Spring’s
welcome video, you shared that“hearing student voices is vital to
shaping the university’s future,” and that “student activism
does make a valuable difference”. We were excited to see
our campaign’s victory addressed, andthank and commend you for your
acknowledgement of our work and its importance. Now we areasking
you to take this support further.
We have been asking the Board of Trustees for over three years
to divest from the top 200 publicly traded fossil fuel
companies, and reinvest those funds into socially just,
sustainable, and
equitable organizations, infrastructure, and portfolios. We no
longer have time to wait for this
ask to be addressed, and must act with the urgency the climate
crisis necessitates. We recently
asked again for Chairman Woolridge and President Meehan to stand
on the right side of history,to commit to full divestment, to lead
with us. In our formal proposal, outlined in the additional
attachment, we ask for this commitment by the close of business
on April 13th, 2016. We are
calling on you to represent this campus, a campus that you have
shown values the voice ofstudents and the prospect of a sustainable
future, and carry this message of urgency to the Board
of Trustees.
In warm regards,The UMass Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign
8/18/2019 Divest UMass
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The University of Massachusetts Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign,
as per our formal ask as presented to
the Socially Responsible Investment Advisory Committee, is
calling on the Board of Trustees to formally
commit to a complete divestment of the top 200 fossil fuel
companies according to Carbon Tracker by
close of business on April 13, 2016 . The formal ask
of the campaign is as follows:
April 13, 2016
A formal commitment to full divestment of the top 200 fossil
fuel companies according to Carbon
Tracker as well as a formal commitment to work with Divest UMass
and other applicable parties to craft1
a comprehensive divestment and reinvestment plan.
June 1, 2016 - June 1, 2021
The formal release and implementation of the divestment and
reinvestment plan. The UMass Fossil Fuel
Divestment Campaign requests that the following elements be
integrated into the comprehensive plan
released on June 1st:
The establishment of a Socially Responsible Reinvestment
Committee whose sole directive would be theimplementation of the
divestment and reinvestment plan. This committee would consist of
trustees, a
minimum of one student trustee, and a minimum of two Divest
UMass campaign members, all of whom
would hold voting status.
Divestment of the UMass Foundation endowment, as well as
reinvestment, following a five year timeline,
with 20% of applicable monies being divested each year until
full divestment is reached in 2021.
Reinvestment of a minimum of 5% (1% each year) of divested funds
specifically into the Financial
Cooperative, an investment fund offered by The Working World .
This eleven year-old fund uses2
non-extractive means to invest directly in community and
worker-owned enterprises, and has never had alosing year since its
formation.
Remaining funds reinvested according to the Regenerative Economy
Values. The remaining funds of the
divested endowment would be reinvested in accordance to the
Regenerative Economy Values, a set of
principles for investment created by the Regenerative
Finance group, the Climate Justice Alliance, and
Movement Generation. Reinvestment of funds would also consider
the fostering of partnerships with
organizations in the local and regional areas of Massachusetts.
One such organization is the Center for
Economic Democracy, an organization based in Boston whose
mission is to create a more sustainable and
democratic economy. These local partnerships would not be
limited to investment, but would also be
collaborations to fund local and regional capital projects and
community building initiatives.
1 http://fossilfreeindexes.com/research/the-carbon-underground/ 2 http://www.theworkingworld.org/us/
http://fossilfreeindexes.com/research/the-carbon-underground/
