FOSSIL FREE PENN
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sign the faculty open letter

On April 8th 2016, an open letter of faculty support was released with 102 faculty signatories spanning 10 of Penn's 12 schools. One of the most important ways to aid our campaign is by signing your name to the letter below. ​

    Penn Faculty Members: Add Your Name to the Open Letter

Submit
Dear President Amy Gutmann and the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania,
 
        We, the undersigned faculty, write in favor of investing Penn’s endowment in a more ethical, sustainable, and rational manner by removing investments from the fossil fuel industry. Funding fossil fuel companies ultimately funds climate change. To limit climate change so as to prevent grave adverse effects, we must limit global warming to two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Scientific consensus indicates that to stay within this 2-degree margin, we must cap carbon dioxide emissions at 394 gigatons between now and 2050.¹ The fossil fuel industry, however, owns enough coal, oil, and gas reserves to produce 2860 gigatons of carbon dioxide.² These corporations’ business models make them incompatible with a stable climate.
     The urgent need for climate action cannot be overstated. Global reliance on the burning of fossil fuels has already caused sea level rises, heat waves, and extreme weather events unprecedented in recorded human history. Climate change, moreover, disadvantages those who live in poverty, in particular those in developing countries. These people often lack the resources necessary to adapt to climate changes, and typically contribute fewer greenhouse gas emissions. The World Health Organization estimated in 2004 that climate change causes 166,000 deaths worldwide each year.³ As the Lancet Commissions urged in their report from June of this year, "The effects of climate change are being felt today, and future projections represent an unacceptably high and potentially catastrophic risk to human health."⁴ These harmful effects of climate change will only worsen if we continue forward on the path we are on.
     While there are many sources of greenhouse gas emissions, the fossil fuel industry is particularly culpable for perpetuating the climate crisis. Writing in the New York Times and elsewhere, Harvard professor Dr. Naomi Oreskes and others have drawn attention to major oil companies’ practices of deception.⁵ Fossil fuel corporations, for whom the extraction of these fuels is their primary business, have demonstrated resistance to changing their practices by exerting political influence to block climate action. The social injuries attributable to these companies go beyond their contributions to climate change: a 2010 report from the Clean Air Task Force found that U.S. coal power plants emit pollutants which result in an estimated 9,700 hospitalizations each year.⁶ Philadelphia’s own Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery releases over 350 tons of hazardous air pollutants per year.⁷ Penn has already demonstrated dedication to ending reliance on this system of destructive energy through the Climate Action Plan and associated environmental research such as that conducted at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. We applaud those efforts, and aim to build on them by calling for greater action.
 
        We believe that in the face of the fossil fuel industry’s practices only a strategy of divestment is appropriate for the continued moral standing of the university. Specifically, we endorse Fossil Free Penn’s proposal that the University of Pennsylvania:
  1. Stop new investments in the fossil fuel industry.
  2. Remove direct and commingled holdings in the top 200 fossil fuel companies within 5 years.
  3. Reinvest a portion of the extricated funds into clean energy assets.
All aspects of this proposal are necessary due to the harm caused by the coal, oil, and gas industries and the need for a shift in energy toward renewable forms.
 
        Divestment is an act of ethical responsibility and a protest against current practices that cannot be altered as quickly or effectively by other means. The aim of divestment is not to lower the financial value of fossil fuel company shares but instead to exert the university’s moral and intellectual weight against the economic and political agenda of the fossil fuel industry. The most comprehensive study of divestment to date, published by the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford, indicates that past divestment strategies forced changes in corporate behavior, government regulation, legal statutes, and even share prices, that would not otherwise have happened.⁸ Through divesting, Penn would lead the academic world in the call for a better future for its students.
 
        Moreover, in addition to being morally responsible, there is no unequivocal financial evidence that demonstrates that divestment would damage the university or its endowment. Several independent studies conducted by MSCI,⁹ Impax Asset Management,¹⁰ and Advisor partners,¹¹ who together manage over $75 billion in assets, conclude that portfolios free of fossil fuel companies perform equally or even outperform those that are invested in fossil fuels. In recognition of the rational demand for fossil free investments, investment managers now offer fossil free options to investors,¹² making fossil fuel divestment a reasonable option for both direct and commingled funds.
 
        Shareholder engagement as a tactic to change the fossil fuel industry’s practices has clearly failed. The British environmentalist Jonathan Porritt recently said that after years of working with Shell and BP, he “came to the conclusion that it was impossible for today’s oil and gas majors to adapt in a timely and intelligent way to the imperative of radical decarbonisation.”¹³ To encourage an energy transition, which we know is necessary for an end to or serious reduction in fossil fuel usage, direct reinvestment in renewable energy projects offers a much better path than engagement because it maximizes the social impact of our endowment’s investments.
 
        Growing popular and institutional support for divestment further bolsters the tactic’s legitimacy. In February 2015, undergraduates voted overwhelmingly in favor of fossil fuel divestment in a student referendum. Over 30 colleges and universities have divested their endowments from all or part of the fossil fuel industry, including Georgetown, Stanford, Pitzer, and Syracuse. Numerous other institutions have also divested; these include the Church of England, Seattle’s city pension fund, and the Rockefeller Brothers’ Fund. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, the former president of Dartmouth, includes divestment as a legitimate tactic, urging institutions to “be the first mover. Use smart due diligence. Rethink what fiduciary responsibility means in this changing world.” He is one of many authorities to advocate fossil fuel divestment, including President Obama, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Penn must join these institutions and public figures to stand on the right side of history as part of a global move toward climate solutions.
 
        ​With all these things in mind, it is time for Penn to act. It seems counterintuitive to educate intelligent youth so that they may achieve the brightest possible future while simultaneously investing in the destruction of that future. Knowing that sea levels are rising, extreme weather events are becoming stronger and more frequent, and fossil fuel pollution is damaging human health worldwide, how can Penn not answer these alarm bells threatening the prospects of its students? We stand united in calling upon the University Council to bring Fossil Free Penn’s proposal before the trustees, and call upon the trustees to act in a timely manner to approve divestment and reinvestment. 
​Sources
1    Meinshausen, Malte, Nicolai Meinshausen, William Hare, Sarah C. B. Raper, Katja Frieler, Reto Knutti, David J. Frame, and Myles R. Allen. "Greenhouse-gas Emission Targets For Limiting Global Warming To 2 °C." Nature 458 (2009): 1158-162. Accessed July 27, 2015. doi:10.1038; "CAIT:WRI's Climate Data Explorer. "World Resources Institute. 2014. Accessed July 27, 2015.
2    "World Energy Outlook 2012." International Energy Agency. November 12, 2012. Accessed July 27, 2015.
3    McMichael, A.J. et al. "Global Climate Change." In Comparative Quantification of Health Risks: Global and Regional Burden of Disease Attributable to Selected     Major Risk Factors, 1606. Vol. 2. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2004.
4    Watts, Nick et al. "Health and Climate Change: Policy Responses to Protect Public Health." The Lancet, June 23, 2015.Accessed October 29, 2015.
5    Oreskes, Naomi, “Exxon’s Climate Concealment.” New York Times. October 9, 2015. Accessed October 29, 2015.
6    "The Toll from Coal." Clean Air Task Force. September 1, 2010. Accessed July 27, 2015.
7    "S. Phila. Refinery Creates Toxic Air as Well as Jobs." Philly-archives. April 13, 2015. Accessed July 27, 2015.
8    Atif Ansar, Ben Caldecott, James Tilbury, “Stranded assets and the fossil fuel divestment campaign: what does divestment mean for the valuation of fossil fuel assets?” Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford, 2013, pp. 71-72
9    "Responding to the Call for Fossil-fuel Free Portfolios."MSCI-ESG Research. December 1, 2013. Accessed July 28, 2015.
10    “Beyond Fossil Fuels: The Investment Case for Fossil Fuel Divestment." Impax Asset Management. 2013. Accessed July 27, 2015.
11    Kern, Daniel, Jim Blachman, and Gerard Cronin. "Fossil Fuel Divestment: Risks and Opportunities." Advisor Partners. 2013. Accessed July 28, 2015.
12    Including Cambridge Associates, which advises 81% of American university endowments.
13    Porrit, Jonathon. "It Is 'impossible' for Today’s Big Oil Companies to Adapt to Climate Change." The Guardian. January 15, 2015.




Sincerely Yours,
 
1. Coren Apicella
Assistant Professor of Psychology
School of Arts and Sciences
 
2. Daniel A. Barber
Assistant Professor and Associate Chair of Architecture
School of Design
 
3. Rita Barnard
Professor of English
School of Arts and Sciences
 
4. David Barnes
Associate Professor of History and Sociology of Science
School of Arts and Sciences
 
5. Alan M. Barstow
Director and Senior Organizer, Organizational Dynamics
School of Arts and Sciences
 
6. Herman Beavers
Professor of English and Africana Studies
Graduate and Undergraduate Chair, Department of Africana Studies
School of Arts and Sciences
 
7. David Bell
Xinmei Zhang and Yongge Dai Professor of Marketing
Wharton School
 
8. Dan Ben-Amos
Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
School of Arts and Sciences
 
9. Etienne S. Benson
Assistant Professor of History and Sociology of Science
School of Arts and Sciences
 
10. Nancy Bentley
Professor of English
School of Arts and Sciences
 
11. Richard Berman
Lecturer of Urban Studies
School of Arts and Sciences
 
12. Charles Bernstein
Donald T. Regan Professor of English and Comparative Literature
School of Arts and Sciences
 
13. William W. Braham
Professor of Architecture
School of Design
 
14. Charles Branas
Professor of Epidemiology
Perelman School of Medicine
 
​15. Warren Breckman
Rose Family Endowed Term Professor of History
School of Arts and Sciences
 
16. Robin Clark
Professor and Department Chair of Linguistics
School of Arts and Sciences
 
17. Christopher Lance Coleman
Fagin Term Associate Professor
School of Nursing
 
18. Timothy Corrigan
Professor English and Cinema Studies
School of Arts and Sciences
 
19. Thadious M. Davis
Professor of English
School of Arts and Sciences
 
20.  Karen Detlefsen
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Education
School of Arts and Sciences
 
21. Andre Dombrowski
Associate Professor of the History of Art
School of Arts and Sciences
 
22. David L. Eng
Richard L. Fisher Professor of English
School of Arts and Sciences
 
23. Russell Epstein
Professor of Psychology
School of Arts and Sciences
 
24. Lee Erickson
Associate Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health
Perelman School of Medicine
 
25. Tulia Falleti
Class of 1965 Term Associate Professor of Political Science
School of Arts and Sciences
 
26. Siyen Fei
Associate Professor of History, Undergraduate Studies Chair
School of Arts and Sciences
 
27. Steven M. Finn
Lecturer of Organizational Dynamics
School of Arts and Sciences
 
28. Lori Flanagan-Cato
Associate Professor of Psychology
School of Arts and Sciences
 
29. Marybeth Gasman
Professor of Higher Education
Graduate School of Education
 
30. Toorjo Ghose
Associate Professor of Social Policy and Practice
School of Social Policy and Practice
 
31. Joan Goodman
Professor of Education, Culture and Society
Graduate School of Education
 
32. Marie Gottschalk
Professor of Political Science
School of Arts and Sciences
 
33. Cam Grey
Associate Professor of Classical Studies
School of Arts and Sciences
 
34. James Richard Hagan
Lecturer and Advisor, Master of Environmental Studies
School of Arts and Sciences
 
35. Steven Hahn
Nichols Professor of History
School of Arts and Sciences
 
36. Andrew E. Huemmler
Senior Lecturer of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
School of Engineering and Applied Science
 
37. Nancy J. Hirschmann
Professor of Political Science, Director Gender Sexuality and Women's Studies
School of Arts and Sciences
 
38. Kartik Hosanager
Associate Professor of Operations and Information Management
Wharton School
 
39. Amy Kaplan
Edward Kane Professor and Department Chair of English
School of Arts and Sciences
 
40. Jane Kauer
Lecturer of Anthropology
School of Arts and Sciences
 
41. Suvir Kaul
A. M. Rosenthal Professor of English
School of Arts and Sciences
 
42. David Kazanjian
Associate Professor of English
School of Arts and Sciences
 
43. Ellen Kennedy
Professor of Political Science
School of Arts and Sciences
 
44. Justin Khoury
Associate Professor of Physics
Undergraduate Chair of Physics and Astronomy
School of Arts and Sciences
 
45. Anthony Kroch
Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor in the Cognitive Sciences
School of Arts and Sciences
 
46. Howard Kunreuther
James G. Dinan Professor
Professor of Decision Sciences and Business Economics and Public Policy
Co-Director of Risk Management and Decision Processes Center
Wharton School
 
47. Demie Kurz
Adjunct Associate Professor of Sociology
School of Arts and Sciences
 
48. Douglas Jerolmack
Associate Professor and Graduate Chair of Earth and Environmental Science
School of Arts and Sciences
 
49. Andrew Lamas
Faculty, Urban Studies
School of Arts and Sciences
 
50. Kenneth Lande
Professor of Physics
School of Arts and Sciences
 
51. Robin Leidner
Associate Professor of Sociology
School of Arts and Sciences
 
52. Andrea J. Liu
Hepburn Professor of Physics
School of Arts and Sciences
 
53. Ania Loomba
Catherine Bryson Professor of English
School of Arts and Sciences
 
54. Heather Love
R. Jean Brownlee Term Associate Professor of English
School of Arts and Sciences
 
55. Elizabeth Mackenzie
Adjunct Assistant Professor and Program Manager of Applied Psychology and Human Development Division
Graduate School of Education
 
56. Catriona MacLeod
Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of German
School of Arts and Sciences
 
57. Edith Ann Matter
Professor of Religious Studies, Emerita
School of Arts and Sciences
 
58. Justin Mcdaniel
Professor, Department Chair, Religious Studies
School of Arts and Sciences              
 
59. Philippe Met
Professor of French and Francophone Studies
School of Arts and Sciences  
 
60. Luis Moreno-Caballud
Associate Professor of Romance Languages, Graduate Chair in Hispanic Studies
School of Arts and Sciences
 
61. Projit B. Mukharji
Assistant Professor, History and Sociology of Science
School of Arts and Sciences
 
62. Carol Muller
Professor of Music
School of Arts and Sciences
 
63. Sheila Murnaghan
Alfred Reginald Allen Memorial Professor of Greek
School of Arts and Sciences
 
64. Michael Nairn
Lecturer ­­­­­of Urban Studies
School of Arts and Sciences
 
65. María Paredes Fernández
Lecturer of Romance Languages
Romance Languages Course Coordinator
School of Arts and Sciences
 
66. Josephine Park
Associate Professor and Associate Chair of English
School of Arts and Sciences
 
67. Felicity (Litty) Paxton
Lecturer of Communication and Director of Penn’s Women's Center
Annenberg School for Communication
 
68. Kathy Peiss
Nichols Professor of American History
School of Arts and Sciences
 
69. Robin Pemantle
Merriam Term Professor of Mathematics
School of Arts and Sciences
 
70. Alain Plante
Associate Professor and Undergraduate Chair of Earth and Environmental Science
School of Arts and Sciences
 
71. Kevin M. F. Platt
Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures
School of Arts and Sciences
 
72. Adolph Reed, Jr.
Professor of Political Science
School of Arts and Sciences
 
73. Michele Richman
Professor French Studies
School of Arts and Sciences
 
74. Simon Richter
Professor of German
School of Arts and Sciences
 
75. Kermit Roosevelt
Professor of Law
School of Law
 
76. Pouné Saberi
Assistant Clinical Professor
Perelman School of Medicine
 
77. Paul Saint-Amour
Associate Professor of English
School of Arts and Sciences
 
78. Melissa Sanchez
Associate Professor English
School of Arts and Sciences
 
79. Paul Schmidt
Associate Professor of Biology
School of Arts and Sciences
 
80. Robert Schnoll
Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Perelman School of Medicine
 
81. Rebecca Simmons
Hallam Hurt Professor in Neonatology
Perelman School of Medicine
 
82. Elaine Simon
Adjunct Associate Professor of Anthropology
Co-Director, Urban Studies Program
College of Arts and Sciences
 
83. Michael Solomon
Professor of Romance Languages
School of Arts and Sciences
 
84. Peter Steiner
Professor of Slavic Languages, Emeritus
School of Arts and Sciences
 
85. Andrew Stone
Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Perelman School of Medicine
 
86. Mary Summers
Lecturer, Political Science; Senior Fellow, Fox Leadership Program
School of Arts and Sciences
 
87. Kok-Chor Tan
Professor of Philosophy
School of Arts and Sciences
 
88. Jorge Tellez
Assistant Professor of Spanish
School of Arts and Sciences
 
89. Jolyon Thomas
Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
School of Arts and Sciences
 
90. John Tresch
Associate Professor, History and Sociology of Science
School of Arts and Sciences
 
91. Kimberly K. Trout
Assistant Professor of Women’s Health
School of Nursing
 
92. Domenic Vitiello
Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning
School of Design
 
93. David Wallace
Judith Rodin Professor of English
School of Arts and Sciences
 
94. Anna Weesner
Professor of Music
School of Arts and Sciences
 
95. Steven Weitzman
Abraham M. Ellis Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages and Literatures
School of Arts and Sciences
 
96. Bethany Wiggin
Associate Professor of German
School of Arts and Sciences
 
97. Yin Ling Irene Wong
Associate Professor of Social Policy and Practice
School of Social Policy and Practice
 
98. Aaron Wunsch
Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Historic Preservation
School of Design
 
99. Chi-ming Yang
Associate Professor of English
School of Arts and Sciences
 
100. Takashi Yonetani
Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Perelman School of Medicine
 
101. Marilyn V. Howarth
Adjunct Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pharmacology
Perelman School of Medicine 

102. Ian Thomas Fleishman
Assistant Professor of German
School of Arts and Sciences 

103. Gary Survis
Lecturer, Master of Environmental Studies Program
School of Arts and Sciences

104. Caroline Connolly 
Senior Lecturer of Psychology
Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in Psychology 
School of Arts and Sciences 
​
105. Abraham A. Gibson
Lecturer, Department of History and Sociology of Science
School of Arts and Sciences 

106. Alison Sweeney
Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy
School of Arts and Sciences 

107. Christina Frei
Executive Director of Language Instruction 
School of Arts and Sciences
Adjunct Associate Professor of Education
Graduate School of Education

108. Bekir Harun Küçük
Assistant Professor of History and Sociology of Science
​School of Arts and Sciences

109. Daniel Aldana Cohen
Assistant Professor of Sociology
School of Arts and Sciences

110. Daniel Janzen 
Professor of Conservation Biology
School of Arts and Sciences

111. David Azzolina
Adjunct Assistant Professor of English
​School of Arts and Sciences

112. Peter Sterling
Professor of Neuroscience

Perelman School of Medicine 

113. Sally Zigmond
Emeritus Professor of Biology
School of Arts and Sciences

114. S. Walter Englander
Jacob Gershon-Cohen Professor of Medical Science 
Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics
Perelman School of Medicine 

115. Monica Calkins 
Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry 
Perelman School of Medicine 

116. Carol Armstrong
Adjunct Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Perelman School of Medicine 

117. Robert Johnson
Lecturer in Physics
​School of Arts and Sciences
​
118. Sharon Wolf 
Assistant Professor of Education
Graduate School of Education

119. Katherine Margo
Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health
Perelman School of Medicine 

120. Erol Akcay
Assistant Professor of Biology
​School of Arts and Sciences


121. Nikhil Anand
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
School of Arts and Sciences
​
122. Benjamin Pierce
Henry Salvatori Professor of Computer and Information Science
School of Engineering and Applied Science

123. Amy Paeth

Teaching Fellow/Lecturer, Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing
School of Arts and Sciences

124. 
Sanjeev Khanna
Henry Salvatori Professor of Computer and Information Science
​School of Engineering and Applied Science

125. Adriana Petryna
Edmund J. and Louis W. Kahn Term Professor of Anthropology
School of Arts and Sciences

126. Janet Monge

Adjunct Professor of Anthropology
School of Arts and Sciences

127. Megan Kassabaum
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
School of Arts and Sciences

128. Maria Rieders
Adjunct Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions 
Wharton School 

129. Michelle Evans-Chase
Lecturer, Masters of Social Work Program
School of Social Policy & Practice


130. David Grazian
Associate Professor and Graduate Chair of Sociology
​School of Arts and Sciences


131. Susie Hatmaker
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Penn Humanitie
s Forum
School of Arts and Sciences 

132. John Crocker
Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
School of Engineering and Applied Science

133. James Aguirre
Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy
School of Arts and Sciences

134. Vinayak Mathur
Lecturer in the Department of Biology
School of Arts and Sciences


135. Franca Trubiano
Associate Professor of Architecture
School of Design

136. Karen M'Closkey
Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture
School of Design


137. Stephanie Weirich
Professor of Computer and Information Science
School of Engineering and Applied Science

138. Steve Zdancewic

Professor of Computer and Information Science
School of Engineering and Applied Science

139. Keith VanDerSys

Senior Lecturer in Landscape Architecture
School of Design

*The first 100 signatures appear in alphabetical order, and signatures thereafter appear in the order signed. 
​Signatures are updated on a weekly basis. Please email us if you believe there is any error with your signature.
​


Fossil Free Penn seeks to include all members of the Penn community in this campaign.
If you are faculty or (non-faculty) staff and would like to be involved, please email fossilfreepenn@gmail.com
.
​
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  • HOME
  • WHY DIVEST?
    • FAQs
  • SUPPORT FFP
    • STUDENT REFERENDUM
  • 2018 DIVESTMENT PROPOSAL
    • 2015 DIVESTMENT PROPOSAL
  • TIMELINE
  • NEWS