After the fall 2023 Student Union (SU) election, new members were elected to Senate, Treasury, and the Arts & Sciences Council, and two constitutional amendments were passed, Nov. 16. The election had the lowest voter turnout since spring of 2022, and among those elected is an ArtSci Council President with a history of opposing the existence of SU.
The Undergraduate Council endorsed a statement calling on all Ivy League institutions to divest from fossil fuels at a Sunday meeting.
Sponsored by all eight Ivy League student body presidents, the statement calls on the universities to commit to “climate-conscious investments” and cease their investment in fossil fuel companies by 2025.
The statement said the Ivy League universities are among the “most powerful and privileged institutions in the world,” citing their collective endowment of $135 billion and their control of roughly 25 percent of all American university endowment funds.
Their collective endowments grant them both “social influence” and a “responsibility” to combat the climate crisis, according to the statement.