Facilitator-led small group discussions among faculty, staff and students on Friday, March 25 will provide feedback to the University of Utah Academic Senate Ad Hoc ReInvestment Dialogue Committee on whether or not the university should consider divesting its endowment from fossil fuels.
The ad hoc faculty committee is hosting the dialogue session to learn the sentiments of the university community before the committee makes its recommendations to the full Senate in April. Joan Gregory, chair of the committee and a librarian on the health sciences library faculty, said the dialogue session is designed to gather input.
“We want to learn the thoughts, concerns and ideas of a broad range of people,” Gregory said. “Some people think the U should take a leadership role as a public institution to remove fossil fuel funds from its endowment because of their contribution to climate change. Others want to see greater investment in renewable energy. And others are concerned about potential financial ramifications of these actions. We want to hear what people think.”
The dialogue session will take place 12:30 pm to 2 p.m., March 25 at the Marriott Library’s Gould Auditorium. After a brief overview about divestment and reinvestment, small groups of eight participants will discuss the issue. Each group discussion will be led by a student in the law school’s Environmental Dispute Resolution program and the Department of Communication’s Conflict Resolution Certificate Program.
“Across the country, more and more universities and cities are considering fossil fuel divestment,” Gregory said. “We are glad that the University of Utah is part of this discussion. We hope that the university community turns out in force to have an open dialogue about divestment from fossil fuels and reinvestment in renewable energy.”
In addition to the dialogue session on Friday, the ad hoc committee sponsored a panel presentation on Sustainable Investment @ the U in February and will sponsor a lecture: “Transitioning to a Sustainable Energy Future: Opportunities for Reinvestment” on Wednesday, March 23, 11 a.m. to noon in Room 215, C. Roland Christensen Center (CRCC). An additional lecture, “What Everyone Should Know about Fossil Fuels (Before They Divest),” was presented in early March and was co‐sponsored by the Global Change and Sustainability Center (GCSC) and the UU student chapter of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG).
Additional information and digital video of these sessions is or will be accessible via the ad hoc committee’s web site.
Written by Ad-Hoc Reinvestment Committee