SUNY foundation should divest from fossil fuels

Dear Editor, Last November, myself and several other students met with New Paltz President Donald P. Christian to urge him to push the New Paltz Foundation to divest from fossil fuels. The student Senate and the faculty both passed identical resolutions urging the foundation’s divestment.

Since then, all we have heard back from the administration and foundation is vague commitments and foggy timelines. Maybe it is a foggy process, but it seems more and more likely that they are stalling until we graduate.

Talking to the administration and the foundation, the talking point “fiduciary responsibility” always pops up. Yes, there is a responsibility to the students to provide scholarships, but what of the responsibility to the planet? Does the health and well-being of the students and their futures come across the board’s minds?

We have heard from the president that he supports the foundation’s divestment from fossil fuels. We have heard that the executive director of the foundation supports divestment.

Yet, this past January, the foundation accepted a donation from ExxonMobil. How can we call ourselves a university that cares about the planet, that cares about the planet and the people living on it? Are we this morally bankrupt?

I would rather see this university poor, but proud, than rich and spineless. Michael Tierney Student at SUNY New Paltz NYPIRG, board of directors New Paltz, N.Y.