I recently wrote an article for The New Hampshire about the Student Environmental Action Coalition, and their efforts to get UNH to divest from oil and other fossil fuel companies. What I discovered turned out to be rather disconcerting.
Fiona Gettinger lead SEAC into President Huddleston’s office with a petitioned that over 1,000 UNH students signed, in support of the organizations efforts. I followed them in, recording and taking notes for my article. After speaking with Fiona after the presentation, I learned that the UNH foundation is not only refusing to divest from these companies that are harming the environment, but they refuse to even do an investigation regarding whether or not divestment in such companies, and investment in alternative, eco and socially friendly companies, would be beneficial or detrimental.
The UNH Foundation either won’t, or can’t, share their investment records, stating that the hire an outside company (Portsmouth Buchholz) to deal with their investments. The fact that they wont share, or even worse, don’t even know this information is just irresponsible.
I approached members of the UNH Foundation at the alumni center for further information, only to be turned away and told to contact one of the media relations contacts.
So I did. I sent her all my questions to relay to one particular member of the foundation. All I was met with in response was the same public statement the foundation had released to SEAC earlier that month.
Finally, shortly after I had already submitted my article to my editor, I got another response with answers to each of my questions, which happened to just be different parts of the earlier statement re-worded. Not real answers.
So, after my article was sent in, the editorial staff wrote an opinion piece titled “Investing in the Truth” which was published in the same issue. The piece was very good, and brings up an excellent point.
UNH paints itself as a sustainable campus, as one of the most green college campuses. UNH does in fact do a lot of good in regards to the environment, and without going into a list of what all of those things are, I suppose that it’s a good thing regardless of the reasons why.
But now, I really feel like it’s one giant publicity move. They want a good name. They want the reputation. So they start all these green, sustainable projects, yet it all sits on top of this big dirty secret, that no one can seem to find the true answers too...
I’m not a hippie. I understand that UNH is a business, and needs to make a profit. I get that. But as a public university, isn’t it the responsibility of the administration to tell the truth about what companies they are investing in? Isn’t it corrupted for them to try so desperately hard to cover up that information?
SEAC’s efforts have not only been published in The New Hampshire, but Seacoast Online, Fosters, and now the AP and Boston Globe. The movement they are involved in is a growing one.
This issue is something I plan to continue to pursue. I plan to stay in contact with Fiona throughout the rest of the year, and report on her meeting with Huddleston (if he agrees) in January. People are entitled to know what companies UNH is investing in.
“What the UNH Foundation needs to do is have an honest conversation with members of SEAC and the UNH community at large about its investments. Its representatives need to explain how much the university is invested in fossil fuel companies. And after doing extensive research of its own, and not relying on an outside investing company, the foundation should explain why it isn’t practical for the company to divest from fossil fuel companies. If it does not, it risks labeling UNH with the ironic tag of a sustainable university that helps to fund global warming. “
-TNH, Investing in the Truth
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