Central in the debate about divesting endowments from fossil fuels is not only climate change, but the question of whether such a move could hurt colleges financially. The latest study examining the financial impact of divestment, released earlier this month and paid for by an oil industry advocacy group, says colleges that divest are bound to lose money. Bradford Cornell, a hedge fund manager and visiting professor at the California Institute of Technology, determined that Harvard University, with its $36 billion endowment, would lose $108 million each year if it divested from fossil fuels, as students activists have been seeking. Cornell says divestment hurts an institution's ability to fully diversify its investment holdings.

September 21, 2015 ・ From Inside Higher Ed