Students Call for UC to Divest Certain Holdings
UCLA’s undergraduate student government has approved a resolution urging the University of California Regents to divest itself of holdings in industrial and manufacturing firms that the students say contribute to global warming.
The Undergraduate Student Affairs Council voted 9-2 on the resolution Tuesday night, marking the first time the council has sought divestment based on an environmental issue.
UCLA environmental activists plan to present the resolution to the regents today when they hold their regular meeting at UCLA.
The divestment resolution targets Exxon, Ford and General Motors, three members of the Global Climate Coalition, a powerful American business group that takes issue with the theory that Earth’s surface temperature is increasing.
The University of California has investments with Exxon, Ford and GM.
Another letter urging the regents to divest holdings in coalition companies has been signed by 58 UCLA faculty members, including chemistry professor and Nobel Prize winner Paul Boyer.
A spokesman for the regents said they have not yet seen the resolution but will take it under consideration.
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