Stanford rejects student request to divest fossil fuel holdings

[KamaAina]

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Stanford-rejects-student-push-to-divest-fossil-7377162.php

Stanford University’s board of trustees says it will not fully divest from the fossil fuel industry following a nearly four-year battle with a student organization campaigning against the practice.

The school’s board of trustees said Monday that after evaluating a divestment proposal from Fossil Free Stanford, an anti-investment campus group, it had concluded the companies the university endowment invests in inflict no “social injury,” so there was no reason to dispose of the holdings....

“We believe the long-term solution is for all of us to reduce our consumption of fossil fuel resources and develop effective alternatives,” the trustees said.

“Because achieving these goals will take time, and given how integral oil and gas are to the global economy, the trustees do not believe that a credible case can be made for divesting from the fossil fuel industry until there are competitive and readily available alternatives.”

[procon]

1. "No social injury” ?

The board of trustees needs a remedial crash course in climate change and a current events tutor. Were they all asleep when the Aliso Canyon natural gas well blowout released more than 100,000 tons of methane, a greenhouse gas, before the well was finally capped? Are they suffering from Alzheimer's disease and forgot about the long term impact of the Gulf oil spill?

If they're so concerned about "the global economy", then stop supporting the fossil fuel industry and start investing in California's economic development by supporting wind and solar energy projects that generate money and jobs here.