It’s a tactic taken from the 1980s, when American students pushed college administrators to divest in companies doing business in South Africa in a quest to end apartheid.  

Now, students are pushing their college boards and executives to withdraw their investments in oil, coal and gas companies in hopes of combatting climate change, according to the New York Times.

Swarthmore has resisted the push, but other schools haven’t:

A small institution in Maine, Unity College, has alreadyvotedto get out of fossil fuels. Another, Hampshire College in Massachusetts, has adopted a broadinvestment policythat is ridding its portfolio of fossil fuel stocks.

“In the near future, the political tide will turn and the public will demand action on climate change,”Stephen Mulkey, the Unity College president, wrote in aletterto other college administrators. “Our students are already demanding action, and we must not ignore them.”

But at colleges with large endowments, many administrators are viewing the demand skeptically, saying it would undermine their goal of maximum returns in support of education. Fossil fuel companies represent a significant portion of the stock market, comprising nearly 10 percent of the value of the Russell 3000, a broad index of 3,000 American companies.

And the end quote: 

“When it comes down to it, the members of the board are not the ones who are inheriting the climate problem,” said Sachie Hopkins-Hayakawa, a Swarthmore senior from Portland, Ore. “We are.”

Read the full story here: To Stop Climate Change, Students Aim at College Portfolios.