Harvard students vote for divestment

The Harvard College Undergraduate Council revealed that students have voted overwhelmingly for the university to divest its $30.7bn endowment from fossil fuel-related assets. 

Campaigners for the group Students for the Just and Stable Future said 72 per cent of undergraduates had voted in favor of proposals that would see the university divest any interests it holds in the top 200 publicly traded fossil fuel companies.

"In 1990, 52 per cent of voting students supported complete divestment from apartheid South Africa," said Chloe Maxmin, a co-coordinator for Divest Harvard, in a statement. "[Now] 72 per cent of voting students are raising their voices for fossil divestment, telling Harvard to stop investing in companies that are threatening our future."

The campaign group is the first student body in six years to secure the 670 signatures necessary for a referendum question to be included in student body elections, and the vote makes fossil fuel divestment the official stance of the Harvard College Undergraduate Council.

[Business Green]