Lucas Ferrer ’17 speaks at the Divestment Committee information session.
With the responsibilities of the student leaders of the divestment initiative coming to an end, fourth and fifth form students met recently with current seniors to discuss the future of Choate’s fossil fuel divestment. The leaders, Lucas Ferrer ’17, Zoe Reid ’17, and Anselm Kizza-Besigye ’17, explained to the group about their search for new representatives to continue their efforts.
The meeting, held on March 22, highlighted the progress of the current student leaders and the need for two new students to carry on the initiative and represent Choate’s student body in a divestment-focused committee. Because they will be in contact with the Board of Trustees’ Investment Committee, these students must be able to advocate for their opinions in a professional way, as well as hold their own in presentations to trustees.
“Our short term goals right now are finding a group of students who can understand and build on the message that we have started with and take it forward to the committee that has been formed. They will work with the different parties to build a concrete proposal to bring to the Board of Trustees,” said Ferrer.
Headmaster Alex Curtis also explained his expectations for the future of the initiative, stating, “We want to continue to raise awareness about the subject. I am excited to see how a group of passionate, smart people can come up with solutions that allow us to push our community to recognize the ways the management of the endowment supports all of the great things going on at our school. I think that there are lots of different routes, and I am hoping that many things will be explored; that there will be a willingness to think about ways that we can phase in ideas while holding on to our original principles.”
Ferrer and Reid stressed the importance of student leadership. Ultimately, they will be looking for advocates to keep the Choate community conscious of the true purpose of divestment and why there should be support for this message. “Like the students that have been involved up to this point, I hope that they will be able to continue those same characteristics,” said Dr. Curtis.
“It is going to be difficult because this will be the first time that students have been listened to,” commented Reid. “We have to really select these students carefully. If they go in and are not assertive enough, they will be pushed down. They are just going to be there as a token gesture, and that is not what we want.”
The three current student leaders initially took on the project of recent Choate alumnus Christopher Moeckel ’16, who generated attention around divestment on campus in April last year. “We felt like the best thing for him to do was to make a presentation to the Board of Trustees, but we were done with board meetings by that time. So we decided that he should recruit and educate students who would be here this year to carry that forward,” explained Dr. Curtis.
As the three leaders created a presentation for the Investment Committee, they stressed the importance of Choate’s values and previous sustainability efforts. They also addressed how the School will move forward. Ferrer, Reid, and Kizza-Besigye became the first Choate students to speak to the Investment Committee.
“For this generation, this is the single most important issue that faces us,” Dr. Curtis said. “The truth is that all of the other things that we are trying to accomplish as human beings will not work if the environment is destroyed. Nothing else will matter. If you look at all of the areas of Choate, we are about being sustainable in all ways. It was striking to them that the single biggest resource the School has, the endowment, was not being used in the same way.”
The three seniors eventually met with Choate’s Chief Investment Officer, Mr. Jason Raiti, who allowed a new committee focused on the divestment of fossil fuels to be formed. Not only does the steady consumption of fossil fuels hurt the environment, but the School’s fund managers have been losing money on these stocks, further strengthening the leaders’ initiative.
“Our Investment Committee was supportive when I said that I wanted them to hear from the group of students,” Dr. Curtis said, adding, “I do think they are very thoughtful and take very seriously their responsibility to make sure that the endowment is doing what it is set up to do, which is to support our school now and forever.”
As a notable leader in sustainability, Choate became the first prep school to show progress in divestment. Phillips Andover Academy began an initiative to divest; however, it proved to be a disappointment. “By doing this, we are completing this holistic message for Choate about what we stand for,” commented Ferrer. “We want to ensure that we are the leaders of this in the long run.”
Members of the Choate community are positive about the impact and future of divestment. Dr. Curtis noted, “I am thrilled that the Board has been willing to take a closer look at this. It is not often that we have committees that have both faculty and students. This is one of those unusual cases where it made sense to put them together, and I am very appreciative of the Board’s willingness to listen to our on-campus community and respond to them so positively.”
