Sustainability fund should not be the end of the road

Few student organizations garner as much attention on campus as Tufts Climate Action (TCA), formerly known as Tufts Divest, and with due reason. The cause for which they fight fervently -- to push the administration to divest from fossil fuels -- is one that involves every member of the Tufts community and every person who benefits from the financial well-being of the university. In May 2013, a working group comprised of faculty, trustees and students began meeting to determine the definition of “sustainability” and to discuss investing exclusively in socially and environmentally conscious institutions. One tangible outcome of the working group was the recommendation of the Tufts Sustainability Investment Fund, a proposal made at a trustee meeting held in February 2014.

While the formation of a working group and the promotion of open discussion about the environmental impacts of the companies in which Tufts invests is a step in the right direction toward campus sustainability, these efforts alone are not enough. As many members of TCA have pointed out, although the administration and the board of trustees are working toward a more environmentally friendly strategy of investing Tufts’ finances, the university is not, in fact, divesting.

While Tufts must have sufficient funds in order to continue as a prestigious academic institution, this conservative approach does not sit well with those interested in the cause of divestment -- and rightfully so. Perhaps the best thing that can be said of the sustainability fund is that it aims to prove to trustees that divestment and, likewise, investment in sustainable companies, can be a business move as well as an environmental one. Critically, the fund's creation signals a practical, rather than ideological, approach to sustainable investing. It will be used to gauge how financially feasible divestment might be -- and how popular environmental sustainability is among donors. The fund will only invest in companies that have reached set environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, and will support green research and academic initiatives. Large donations directed toward the sustainability fund would help to make a business case for divestment at Tufts.

The student body should recognize that although the Tufts Sustainability Investment Fund is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, pressure should still be put on the administration to invest in an environmentally conscious manner. In short, the fund is not the equivalent of complete divestment.