On January 27th, Swarthmore Mountain Justice revealed the considerable conflicts of interest held on the part of three Board members, Rhonda Cohen ’76, Samuel Hayes III ’57, and Harold Kalkstein ’78. As of June 30, 2015, firms associated with these three Board members held more than $25 billion worth of investments in energy companies, severely compromising the integrity of any board decisions on divestment.
In the three days since negotiators reached an agreement in Paris, I’ve seen the deal heralded as everything from “the world’s greatest diplomatic success” to “just bullshit” . There seems to be little consensus as to whether COP-21’s outcome was phenomenal, devastating, or even meaningful whatsoever.
by Lee Smithey This op-ed appeared in The Phoenix on Thursday 25 February 2016 This past weekend, the Board of Managers at Swarthmore College approved an internal charge on greenhouse gas emissions. We should mark what appears to be an initial step toward developing a carbon pricing model.
The College is sending its 3rd annual delegation to Paris for COP21. Read the delegation’s daily blog updates here. In 2013, the College applied for and was granted NGO observer status to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP).
Swarthmore College, the epicenter of student protest last year over investment in fossil fuels, has budgeted $300,000 as part of an ongoing commitment to improve energy conservation on campus. The college’s board of managers, at its meeting last weekend, approved the expenditure as part of a $160 million budget.
On the Friday before Board of Managers meeting, activist group Mountain Justice (MJ) held a rally to once again call on the board to divest and deliver a previously published letter to the president’s office. The next day, the board announced a new sustainability-motivated carbon charge initiative, but made no public mention of divestment.
At its meeting this weekend, Swarthmore’s Board of Managers approved the budget for the College’s 2016-17 fiscal year. The budget includes $300,000 for a new carbon charge, initially proposed by a working group of members of the faculty and staff this fall, that will provide funding for campus initiatives and projects that increase energy conservation and efficiency and promote renewable energy.
This Thursday, three Swarthmore Honorary Degree recipients, labor organizer and anti-war activist John Braxton, linguist, philosopher and political activist Noam Chomsky, and Berkeley sociology professor Arlie Hochschild called on the college to divest its endowment from fossil fuels. On Tuesday, MIT Professor Emeritus of Management Lotte Bailyn added her name to the letter.
Today, published a The Daily Gazette pro-divestment letter signed by three recipients of Swarthmore honorary degrees: sociologist Arlie Hochschild ’62, activist John Braxton ’70, and, most notably, linguist and social critic Noam Chomsky. Here is an excerpt from the letter, which references Swarthmore’s 1989 divestment from South Africa: Swarthmore has been a powerful voice for justice at critical moments in history.
TO: Board of Managers of Swarthmore College We are writing to you as proud recipients of honorary degrees from Swarthmore College. Whether it was divesting from Apartheid, refusing to bow to McCarthyism, developing leaders in the civil rights and peace movements, or admitting women from its founding, Swarthmore has been a powerful voice for justice at critical moments in…