The Yale University undergraduate student government wants the school to divest from companies that contribute to climate change and Puerto Rican debt.
The Yale College Council voted to join a group called the Endowment Justice Coalition that supports socially responsible investments.
“Having the backing of the Yale College Council, while it’s not diluting any of the demands and any of the coalition work up until this point, we do believe it is a big step forward,” said EJC member Katie Schlick.
Abey Philip is a member of both the College Council and the EJC.
“The Yale College Council will now be opening doors to boardrooms and administrators that the EJC has previously been denied access to, and will provide a certain amount of legitimacy.”
Divestment activists drew national headlines last fall when they protested during an annual football game between Harvard and Yale.
Last week student representatives from the Big Ten, an association of universities based on athletics, voted to support a move toward divestment from fossil fuels.
Yale University President Peter Salovey said last fall the school doesn’t favor divestment, but works with investment managers on the climate impact of companies in their portfolios.
