By Elise Harmon, news correspondent
A group of nine students sued Harvard University last week, claiming that the school’s fossil fuel investments are contrary to Harvard’s duties as a nonprofit and a charity.
On Nov. 19, the Harvard Climate Justice Coalition filed the suit against the Harvard Corporation, the president and fellows of Harvard College and Harvard’s Investment firm, the Harvard Management Company. The complaint, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, alleges that the school’s investments in fossil fuel companies is a breach of Harvard’s duties as a nonprofit organization and public charity due to the companies’ contribution to climate change.
“We allege that Harvard is failing to secure the advancement of youth by directly investing in activities that are a direct threat to them… and thus damaging the health and well-being of future generations,” plaintiff Joseph Hamilton, a Harvard Law School student, said.
Hamilton is one of seven student plaintiffs in the case. The coalition, comprised of three law students, one graduate engineering student and four undergraduate students, felt that the action was necessary after the Harvard administration refused to negotiate on the matter of fossil fuel divestment. The seven say they are also suing on behalf of future generations.
According to the lawsuit, the Harvard University endowment has over $79 million invested in publicly traded fossil fuel companies, in addition to an unknown amount of indirect holdings.
“The legal realm is a great place for both the students and the administration to present their arguments,” Hamilton said. “The discovery phase [of the court process] would help us see exactly how much the corporation has invested in fossil fuel companies.”
In 2012, 72 percent of all Harvard students, and over 60 percent of Harvard law students, voted to support divestment.
In response to continued student pressure, Harvard President Drew Faust released a statement in October 2013 stating that the corporation didn’t feel that divestment was warranted or wise. He has not released anything since.
“Conceiving of the endowment not as an economic resource, but as a tool to inject the university into the political process or as a lever to exert economic pressure for social purposes,” the statement said, “can entail serious risks to the independence of the academic enterprise. The endowment is a resource, not an instrument to impel social or political change.”
After students were arrested for blocking Faust’s office while trying to force negotiation last spring, Hamilton and the other plaintiffs decided that taking legal action was necessary.
Northeastern students involved in environmental action were supportive of the lawsuit against Harvard, but they didn’t feel that it would be a necessary step against the current NU administration.
“They’re in a very different situation with their campaign,” Tyler Hall, a third-year mechanical engineering major, said. “They received a firm ‘no’ from their administration.”
Hall is a member of DivestNU, a coalition made up of 22 student groups advocating for the university to divest its endowment from the fossil fuel industry. Northeastern has been talking with student leaders from DivestNU about the issue since 75 percent of students voted in favor of divestment in a March referendum.
Three weeks ago, Hall said members of DivestNU met with NU Senior Vice President and Treasurer Thomas Nedell about what sustainability at Northeastern could look like and whether it’s politically feasible for the university.
“One of the long-term things with divestment is that it’s hard for schools to be the first one to divest,” Alissa Zimmer, a sophomore environmental studies and political science combined major, said. “At the same time, schools don’t want to be the last to divest.”
Before making a decision, Northeastern executives will consider both the economic and political impact of divestment. However, pressure is building as the issue gets increasing media attention and the Boston City Council has come out in favor of divestment.
Although the administration and DivestNU have had multiple meetings, the university has yet to release a public statement about the meetings.
“We feel like they’re beating around the bush,” Zimmer, also a member of the Husky Environmental Action Team and a representative of DivestNU, said. “We’ve only gotten answers in private meetings.”
Since Northeastern is willing to negotiate with students, neither Zimmer nor Hall feels that they have to take such drastic action as suing the school, but they support the Harvard Climate Justice Coalition in their action.
“We in DivestNU believe that they have a firm [legal] ground,” Hall said. “Our universities have a responsibility not to invest in things that will damage the students.”
Zimmer agreed, saying that she hopes the case gets to court.
“From my understanding, they need a pretty sympathetic judge to get the suit into court,” she explained. “After that, it’s fair game because this is unprecedented and it really depends on your understanding of the law.”
Hamilton and his six cohorts know that their lawsuit is unprecedented – as far as they know, no similar lawsuits have been filed against a charity or private corporation for investing in fossil fuels. However, Hamilton stresses that the case isn’t as unique as some seem to think.
“There’s been some commentary that this cause is quite novel and [that we’re] trying to use the law in a creative way,” he said. “But we’re attempting to bring the Harvard Corporation back to its values rather than asking it to do something radical and new.”
Photo courtesy Canyon Woodward, Divest Harvard
