On Feb. 13, Chancellor Jeremy Haefner sent a letter to USG stating that DU will not divest their fossil fuel investments. USG passed a bill on Oct. 10, 2019 asking DU and Haefner to separate DU from the fossil fuel industry so that DU can better support sustainability. This is the second time students have requested that DU divest—the first time was in 2016—and the second time DU has refused to do so.

“We are concerned about climate change, and we want DU to invest in organizations that help fight it, not cause it,” said Senator Roman Shrestha.

DU claims that “divestment is not how DU can make the greatest impact.” Their largest reasons for not divesting are that less than “5 percent of [their] endowment is invested in companies associated with fossil fuels,” since most fossil fuel companies are private, divesting would not make a large impact and divesting may hurt the financial stability of the university.

In the official report from 2016, DU cited that they “will not divest its investments in fossil fuel companies, or any other industry, for political or social reasons.”

“It’s not a political or a social reason,” said Shrestha. “It’s for the future of the environment.”

DU recognized Middlebury College’s decision to divest after student pressure in Feb. DU, however, claims that Middlebury’s decision is not relevant to DU’s, since “every institution, endowment and investment portfolio is unique.” 

“We were very surprised by DU’s decision. We thought there would be further action, rather than just a straight denial,” said Shrestha. “We thought there would be more discussion about it.”

DU says that this is not a closed issue, and they will “evaluate [their] portfolio of investments and the market to make sure [they] are making the right choices for the community.”