Divestment Advice
Eisgruber warns against taking actions that could be seen as ‘politically partial’
Following several calls for Princeton to withdraw from various types of investments in the past year, President Eisgruber ’83 issued a strong defense of the University’s “presumption against taking political stands” and clarified the impact of a divestment decision.
Princeton “aims to influence society principally by the scholarship we generate and the people we educate, not through economic clout or institutional position-taking,” Eisgruber said in an April 15 letter.
A decision to divest — which would take place only “when the University community as a whole determines that the activities or practices of a company or companies are seriously inconsistent with a core University value” — would affect more than the endowment, he said.
“If we believe that we should not be associated with a company or an activity as a matter of our investment policy, then so too we ought to disassociate from it in all other aspects of our operations,” he said. “We ought not to purchase products or accept gifts from it, nor should we form partnerships with it or facilitate its recruitment activities.”
Eisgruber’s letter was a response to a request for his views by the Resources Committee of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC), which reviews concerns related to socially responsible investments.
In the past year, the Resources Committee received a proposal to divest endowment holdings from fossil-fuel companies, a request to establish sustainable-investment strategies to guide the endowment, and two petitions relating to investments in companies that contribute to or profit from Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
Noting the committee had specifically cited energy and environmental issues, Eisgruber wrote that “it would be a profound mistake to create an investment policy that took political stands regarding the business activities of energy companies. These companies do not meet the disassociation standard.”
Questions about energy, the environment, and sustainability — while pressing — “are questions that arise not out of the conduct of a few bad actors but rather out of the conduct of all of us,” he said.
Research by Princeton scientists “is making a powerful case about the urgent need for action to protect the environment,” he said, but the University’s reputation as an unbiased forum for teaching and study must be protected.
“If the University itself behaves in a manner that is politically partial,” he said, “we weaken our capacity to contribute to this debate in the way that is most needed, and as we are uniquely capable of doing — by providing authoritative and impartial scholarly expertise.”
Eisgruber said Princeton’s presumption against political stands “applies with full force to the management of its endowment,” which he said must be invested to maximize its ability to support Princeton’s mission over the long term. He noted that donors with “fundamentally differing political views” contribute to the endowment, and the University is “obliged to keep faith with them.”
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3 Responses
Crawford MacCallum ’51
8 Years AgoDivestment and Politics
Before the end of this century, world temperatures will increase an average of three or four degrees centigrade, flooding coastal cities and putting global agriculture in disarray. We will manage. But it won’t stop there. During the succeeding century, multiple positive feedback loops will continue to accelerate our race toward an incalculable future. Chicken Little was right: The sky is falling.
An effort to slow down this process should not be considered “politically partial.” Carbon atoms do not come in blue and red. It has been proposed that the Resources Committee support divesting endowment holdings from fossil-fuel companies. President Eisgruber states that a decision to divest would take place only “when the University community as a whole determines that the activities or practices of a company or companies are seriously inconsistent with a core University value” (On the Campus, July 8). Pouring carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere today is surely such an activity.
President Eisgruber writes that “it would be a profound mistake to create an investment policy that took political stands regarding the business activities of energy companies.” A stand regarding this particular kind of business activity would be a matter of wisdom, not politics.
Kerren Dempsey ’97
8 Years AgoDivestment and Politics
Divesting from polluting oil and gas companies is a political matter? No, climate change is a nonpartisan issue, and universities need to lead the charge, not lag behind. This is the moral imperative of our time. Is the University receiving outsized funding from the oil and gas industry that would be unduly influencing opinions?
Bryan Jones ’53
8 Years AgoDivestment and Politics
A tip of the hat to President Eisgruber for his dedicated and outstanding stewardship these past three years or so.
With respect to PAW’s brief “Divestment Advice” story, I agree that 1) “the University community as a whole” should be involved in any divestment decision, and 2) “the activities or practices of a company or companies must be seriously inconsistent with a core University value.”
It seems clear that serious divestment requests, if not demands, will recur. It is not only helpful but necessary that we be reminded of what in fact our core University values are. Might President Eisgruber or his staff provide us with a working list?