As public pressure to confront the climate crisis builds, we—members of the Tiger community—call on President Danny Anderson and the Board of Trustees to:
- Disclose all current direct and indirect investments in fossil fuel companies;
- Immediately freeze any new investment in fossil fuel companies;
- Divest within five years from direct ownership and from any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds; and
- Enact a socially responsible investment policy that reflects the input of Trinity University’s students, alumni, faculty, workers, and staff.
We believe that divestment from fossil fuels—selling off all assets tied to coal, oil, and natural gas companies—will not only be a sound decision for the health of our institution’s endowment, but also for the wellbeing of its current and future graduating classes, who deserve to graduate with a future free from climate chaos and destruction. We also believe this action is necessary to realize Trinity University’s core value of “honoring the dignity and worth of every person,” including the vulnerable members of society who suffer most from climate change.
Institutions, such as our own, have been judged poorly by history for standing idly by during the divestment movement that defeated South African Apartheid. Now, we have another opportunity to send a clear, moral message on behalf of current and future generations: that it is reprehensible to profit off the destruction of our planet’s natural systems and therein the devastation of millions upended from their homes and deprived of basic needs, prosperous futures, and the right to life.
Over the last several years, institutions with portfolios worth trillions of dollars in the aggregate have divested from fossil fuels, with corporations, governments, non-profit organizations, pension-funds, and universities divesting their assets. This has weakened fossil fuel companies’ public image and financial strength. Coal, oil, and natural gas have wreaked less havoc on our climate than otherwise possible, and public urgency for a rapid transition to renewable energy has increased. Trinity University’s divestment from fossil fuels would bolster this positive trend. Therefore, we believe it is morally obligatory that the Board of Trustees deliver on this front.
From South African Apartheid to today's climate crisis, a vital question has been raised: why should institutions invest their money in a moral vacuum, incomparable with the values of communities they claim to represent? To correct this prevailing injustice, we ask that Trinity University embrace democracy. After disclosing and divesting all current direct and indirect investments in fossil fuels, we demand that trustees enact a socially responsible investment policy that reflects the input of students, alumni, faculty, workers, and staff.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
https://www.change.org/divest-trinity