Near the end of the winter term, Lizzy Mitchell ’19 and Noah Hermes de Boor ’18, who are part of the Divestment Committee, spoke at a school meeting about their ongoing efforts to get the school to divest from current investments in fossil fuels.
The committee is directly involved with the Board of Trustees on this matter and because of this, the students’ work in divestment is a unique experience. Mitchell said, “You’re working right alongside the administration. I sit in Dr. Curtis’s office on conference calls with the Board of Trustees, which is something that’s really unique, and I think that’s that’s why I got involved in it. I’m pretty interested in the environment and climate change as well as in economics, so I think it tied the two together.”
The divestment effort at Choate was kickstarted in 2016 by Chris Moeckel ’16, who realized that roughly 10% of the Choate endowment was invested in fossil fuels. He initiated conversations with various members of the Choate community, starting with Choate’s Chief Investment Officer Mr. John Burditt, and quickly expanding to the entire student body. After collecting a variety of opinions, Moeckel and several other students put together a petition along with a plan requesting the Board of Trustees to assemble a Divestment Committee.
Once the plan was accepted and the Divestment Committee created, Moeckel selected three classmates to be part of the committee: Lucas Ferrer ’17, Zoe Reid ’17, and Anselm Kizza-Besigye ’17. For one year, the three collaborated on divestment proposals and a presentation for the Board of Trustees. Through a competitive application process, they selected Mitchell and Hermes de Boor to continue the efforts after the original members’ graduation.
This year, the Divestment Committee has met with the Board of Trustees twice — once in the fall term and once before spring break. Mitchell expressed the difficulty of meeting so few times: “It’s definitely hard because there is such a lull in between meetings.”
However, the students, with the help of Dr. Christopher Hogue and Ms. Ashley Bairos, have been working on a proposal all year and have almost completed it. While nothing has been finalized, Mitchell and Hermes de Boor are hoping to get the Board of Trustees to approve this proposal. Mitchell said, “We’re not saying divest by next year because that’s physically and financially impossible. As of right now, we are trying to get them to put no new investments into fossil fuels.”
According to Mitchell, there is a definite need for Choate to divest, especially in regards to the school’s mission. She said, “Investing in fossil fuels doesn’t work with our mission statement anymore. Our mission statement tells students to be global citizens and to push for change. We have a mission for sustainability; we have actions on campus — we’ve chosen the environment over costs before.” She continued, “Our endowment shouldn’t be something separate from our school; it should be aligning with Choate’s mission statement.”
The students also recently sent out a brief survey to promote better engagement of the student body in this divestment process and strengthen their proposal. Mitchell emphasized the importance of the student body’s endorsement of divesting, as the Committee and the Board both need to know that the student body is supportive of this idea before substantial action can be taken.
