AMHERST — Even though two high-ranking University of Massachusetts officials have indicated divesting from investments in oil and gas is “a logical next step” for the endowment managed by the UMass Foundation, it’s unclear how much influence President Martin Meehan and board of trustees Chairman Victor Woolridge will have on decisions made by the foundation.
The foundation’s Socially Responsible Investing Advisory Committee, made up of faculty, administrators, alumni and students, could respond, over the next three months, to the protests launched by the UMass Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign against the investment policies, and Meehan and Woolridge’s statements. Protests continued on the Amherst campus Thursday,
“The Socially Responsible Investing Advisory Committee meets when a petition has been filed,” said Raymond Howell, of Howell Communications in Boston, who handles communications for the foundation. “No new petition has been filed by the UMass Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign.”
The UMass Foundation oversees a $770 million endowment and makes decisions based on advice of the investment committee and professional investment advisers. UMass officials are not releasing details about how much of the endowment’s investments are in fossil fuels.
“Like other university foundations, the UMass Foundation as a matter of policy does not discuss details of its portfolio,” Howell said.
Both Meehan and Woolridge have stated that UMass should divest eventually from fossil fuels, and both have votes as part of the UMass Foundation board. The foundation typically only meets once a year, in December.
“Throughout my career, I have stood for environmental progress and reducing the carbon footprint,” Meehan said in a statement issued by UMass. “Although we find ourselves meeting in a moment of contention, I embrace and I believe that the university leadership broadly shares the goals that the divest-campaign students have been advocating for.”
“We firmly believe that man-made climate change is a situation that we need to address and further believe that we are charting a responsible course,” Woolridge said in a statement.
But neither the UMass president nor the UMass board of trustees can control decisions made by the UMass Foundation, Robert Connolly, spokesman for the UMass president’s office, said in an email.
Connolly said a preliminary view from general counsel Deidre Heatwole is that the UMass Foundation, because it is governed by its own board of directors, has independent fiduciary authority and therefore has the power to make independent decisions on investment matters.