Members and supporters of Fossil Free CU pose outside the Board of Regents meeting in the Anschutz Health Sciences Building on April 27, 2023. (Courtesy of Fossil Free CU)
At the University of Colorado Board of Regents meeting on April 27, members of the climate activist group Fossil Free CU (FFCU) urged board members to consider divesting the four-campus system from investments in fossil fuel companies.
“CU as an educational institution operates on guiding values that clearly state its dedication to furthering student and human development,” said Ruth Nowotny, a sophomore at CU Boulder and a representative from FFCU. “Divestment meets one of these main guiding values by promoting and upholding principles of ethics, integrity, transparency and accountability.”
FFCU’s attendance at the regents meeting was not the group’s first attempt to persuade the university to divest from fossil fuels. In December 2022, FFCU, which was first established in 2013, hosted a march across CU Boulder’s campus during the Right Here, Right Now Climate Summit.
“We’re not asking for something impossible. We’re asking for something that has precedent and is necessary,” said Fiona Nugent, another sophomore student from CU Boulder.
Some representatives cited other universities’ own divestments from the fossil fuel industry to persuade CU Boulder to follow suit, including Harvard University, which announced its divestment in September 2021.
FFCU attended the regents meeting with three specific requests from the university.
The group requested time on the fall agenda to discuss investment in sustainable energy and to put a plan in place by the end of 2023 to divest from fossil fuels and reinvest sustainably by 2027. They also requested that the contents of the endowment and treasury funds be released every six months and upon request.
Ken McConnellogue, a spokesperson for the university, says that some of these requests have already been met.
“The contents of the endowment are on the websites,” McConnellogue said. “You know, I think there’s a misconception that somehow this information isn’t available, but it is all available.”
As for FFCU’s other requests, the university claims to be evaluating the issue further before making a final decision regarding divesting.
“I think the regents are elected officials, and they represent the people of Colorado. So even though they do decide that they have a fiduciary responsibility, they also reflect what the people of Colorado want,” McConnellogue said. “I think they’re looking at it through a broader lens than just the fiscal lens.”
While the FFCU representatives acknowledged the university’s desire to look at the issue from multiple perspectives, they felt that the decision to divest was still well supported.
“You’ve heard several important arguments today from the legal perspective to the environmental perspective, to the education perspective and the moral perspective,” Nugent said to the board. “Divesting away from fossil fuels is clearly the only correct choice.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jessi Sachs at jessi.sachs@colorado.edu.
