Student activism pushes colleges to divest from fossil fuels
BOSTON - The conversation about divestment from fossil fuels is a very active one at many colleges and universities in Massachusetts. It's also a hot topic amongst student-led activist groups.
In fact, UMass credits the student activism on campus for its divestment policy. The Bay State has several institutions that have fully divested and exited their stock market investments in fossil fuels, including Boston University, Wellesley College and Harvard University. Harvard actually has the largest endowment in the United States with $49.4 billion as of 2022.
There are many other schools all across New England that are also leading the charge like the University of Vermont, Brown University in Rhode Island, Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and Unity College in Maine, to name a few. Unity has been fully divested from fossil fuels for nearly a decade.
According to BestColleges.com, more than 100 schools across the country have either partially or fully committed to divest from fossil fuel companies to fight climate change.