New Call for Fossil-Fuel Divestment

The student group Divest Princeton joined with peers at about 60 college campuses around the world to protest university investments in fossil-fuel companies on Fossil Fuel Divestment Day, Feb. 13. 

In front of Frist Campus Center, members read aloud their proposal, which includes Divest Princeton’s demands. Afterward a group of about 30 protesters marched to Nassau Hall.

“Divestment from fossil fuels is not only a powerful symbolic gesture, but also a measure to protect the University community,” said Divest Princeton member Kenji Cataldo ’20, who read a Daily Princetonian op-ed about the submission before handing off the proposal to a staff member at Nassau Hall. 

University spokesman Michael Hotchkiss confirmed that the document was received by the Resources Committee of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC), which is responsible for evaluating divestment proposals. “We appreciate the engagement by our students and alumni on these important issues,” Hotchkiss said in a statement to PAW. “As President Eisgruber has said, our planet faces urgent and complex environmental challenges, and we believe the University is uniquely positioned to have an impact in this area through our research, teaching, and campus sustainability efforts.”

Divest Princeton’s efforts are part of a groundswell of calls for change in the wake of climate crises. Some universities have committed to divestment, such as Georgetown, which made its announcement Feb. 6. While no Ivy institutions have agreed to divest from fossil fuels, it continues to be a hot-button issue on several campuses, including at Harvard, where the faculty voted in support of divestment and some candidates for the Board of Overseers are promoting the issue.