Special Campus Memo: Fossil Fuels and Climate Impact Task Force Update

Dear Grinnellians,

I want to personally thank fellow trustees Ed Senn '79 and Kathryn Mohrman '67 of the Fossil Fuels and Climate Impact Task Force, as well as chairman Wayne Moyer and the members of the Advisory Committee, for planning and facilitating the excellent series of on-campus public dialogues that occurred this fall.

In responding to a topic raised through student and community engagement, the task force and advisory committee demonstrated how a model of shared governance, transparency and inquiry-driven learning can be used to effectively address important public issues in a higher education community.

The participation by many expert speakers in this comprehensive series is greatly appreciated. Their contributions during 15 total sessions provided a solid foundation for our process going forward. Together, we have become better informed about Grinnell's endowment, the complex considerations that go into Trustee stewardship and investment decisions, and the critically important role the endowment plays in the College's programs and operations. We gained insight into arguments both in support of and in opposition to fossil fuel divestment as well as why some recognized leaders in responsible investing favor investor engagement over divestment. Very importantly, we discovered what the College is already doing with sustainability plans while hearing about possible options for further reducing the College's carbon footprint. There were many other topics covered that further served to educate us about how Grinnell College can positively impact climate.

Because the many issues we discussed are complex, and the participants and resources too numerous to identify here, I encourage you to view some or all of the sessions by going to the task force website. Information the task force members are seeing and considering is available to everyone. The conversations represent an open, inclusive, and transparent process in which the voices and views of students, faculty, alumni, and staff have all played a major role.

The task force remains committed to transparency as it moves forward in the process, and we will continue to provide updates as we move through next steps. We continue to welcome and invite additional submissions of relevant articles and timely information that may serve to make our review even more thorough. We remain on track for making recommendations to the full Board of Trustees at the April meeting. Thank you again to those of you who participated in our dialogues this fall, and best wishes through the end of the semester and into the new year.

Sincerely,

Michael Kahn '74, Task Force Chair, member of the Board of Trustees