The Board of Regents of the University of Michigan has rid the endowment of socially

irresponsible investments twice. First, in 1978 the Regents divested from companies in apartheid
South Africa. The second time, in 2000, the Regents targeted tobacco companies. On both
occasions, the Regents divested after forming a committee to gather information and make
recommendations.
The Regents formed these committees to confront distinct issues but both times identified similar
concerns. In 2005, the University of Michigans Chief Financial Officer, Timothy Slottow,
explained these concerns and articulated the precedent created by the Apartheid and Tobacco
committees. The precedent requires the presence of three conditions.
First, the concern to be explored must express the broadly and consistently held position of the
campus community over time. Second, there must be reason to believe that the behavior or
action in question may be antithetical to the core mission and values of the University. Third,
there must be reason to believe that the organization, industry, or entity to be singled out may be
uniquely responsible for the problems identified.
At this time, Law Students for a Sustainable Endowment (LSSE) at the University of Michigan
Law School submits that climate change fulfills all three conditions. First, a majority of the
campus community agrees that climate change is occurring, is not entirely natural, and considers
climate change to be important to them personally. Moreover, as demonstrated by campus-wide
survey results since 2012, this consensus has existed over a period of time.
Second, the actions of the coal and oil industries and the attributes of the products they trade are
antithetical to two core values of the University of Michigan: sustainability and the pursuit and
dissemination of truth and knowledge. Given the Universitys core value of sustainability, it is
antithetical to invest in the most unsustainable products in the worldthose which are the
primary drivers of climate change. Moreover, the coal and oil industries have cloaked
themselves with the mantle of scientific legitimacy, for the purpose of economic gain, and at the
expense of the public health and the environment. The practices of the coal and oil industries are
fundamentally at odds with our own mission of education and research.
Third, the coal and oil industries extract and sell the raw materials that primarily cause climate
change. In addition, the industries have aggressively battled to sustain global dependence on
their products, hindering progress on addressing climate change. It is this combination of the
industries role in causing climate change and preventing progress on addressing climate change
that makes them uniquely responsible.
LSSEs proposal is narrow in scope and uncontroversial. There are a number of concerns
including fear of making an empty gesture, being hypocritical, creating a slippery slope, and
disdain for divestmentthat are important and worthy of robust debate but do not challenge the
proposal. Ultimately, LSSE calls only for the Board of Regents to form a committee to gather
information and make recommendations. LSSE asks for nothing more. Any objections to
divestment or the conclusions of climate science are properly leveled at a committee; not a
proposal to create a committee.