Some University of Maryland faculty members are petitioning the University System of Maryland Foundation and University of Maryland College Park Foundation to divest from fossil fuel companies.
This university’s 17 for Peace and Justice chapter launched the faculty petition as part of a broader divestment campaign at a joint event on March 4 with other student organizations, including this university’s Students for Justice in Palestine and Young Democratic Socialists of America chapters. The petition has 21 signatures as of Thursday.
The campaign comes after this university’s Student Government Association passed a resolution in November calling on the UMCP foundation and the university system foundation to divest from companies that enable climate change and engage in environmentally destructive practices.
Siv Lie, an associate music professor and affiliate associate anthropology professor, said she signed the petition because she believes her “duty” as a tenured faculty member is to stand up for the causes she believes in and support students.
“Faculty members tend to have a more prominent voice in campus matters or matters pertaining to the university system, because of our stature and our place in the system,” Lie said. “We are in a very good position to support students in matters that they care about and that we care about.”
[UMD SGA passes resolution calling on divestment from fossil fuel industry]
The petition demands transparency, accountability and integrity from the UMCP foundation and university system foundation’s about their investments. It also calls for the foundation to rejoin the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment — an international framework that guides institutions to incorporate environmental, social and corporate governance responsibility into their investment decisions.
Leah Zahniser, a senior environmental science and policy major and outreach coordinator for 17 Peace and Justice, said the group has conducted research with a national climate cohort for more than a year and discovered a lack of transparency between the university system foundation and its stakeholders.
“It’s just about holding them accountable for their promises,” Zahniser said.
The university system foundation, UMCP foundation and university system did not respond to The Diamondback’s request for comment. This university did not provide comment in time for publication.
An ad hoc committee for socially responsible investing was previously formed in the university system foundation, which invests about $2.4 billion in assets. The committee was formed in response to a proposal from the Fossil Free Maryland student group that called on the foundation to divest from fossil fuels, according to a statement from the committee in 2016.
In the statement, the ad hoc committee recommended the system foundation divest from the Carbon Underground 200 companies, which are the top 100 coal companies and top 100 oil and gas companies in potential carbon emissions globally. The foundation did not directly invest in any of these companies during the 2017 fiscal year, according to an update to the statement in 2017.
The ad hoc committee also recommended the foundation sign the Principles for Responsible Investment. The foundation signed onto the principles in November 2016, according to the updated statement.
[UMD students will vote on divestment from defense companies in April’s SGA election]
But according to the principles’ 2021 report, the foundation withdrew as a signatory between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021.
According to the university system foundation’s website, it withdrew from the principles due to stricter requirements that would have required “significant changes in the Foundation’s operating processes.”
English professor Kimberly Coles, who signed the faculty petition, said the university system foundation’s decision to leave the agreement without discussing with faculty members or other stakeholders was questionable.
“They’re showing absolutely no respect for the community of which they are a part,” Coles said. “The foundation represents this community. The foundation has no right to change its commitments without consultation with the community.”
17 for Peace and Justice is urging its members to send the petition to faculty who they think would be willing to sign it, Javier Fuentes, a volunteer director for the organization, said.
The sophomore public policy and social data science major said the group also hopes faculty will share the petition with their colleagues.
“It’s important for not just students, but also faculty to get involved and to have as broad of a coalition as possible,” Fuentes said.
