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A campaign led by Oregon State University faculty, staff and students to persuade the OSU Foundation to divest its holdings in fossil fuels has failed.

The foundation has announced that it will not divest, angering OSU Divest supporters who said they will continue the battle.

In a letter distributed to the OSU community, Ruth A. Beyer, who chairs the foundation’s Board of Trustees, cited divestment’s “impact on the foundation’s portfolio” and whether it would advance the cause of climate change as key drivers of the decision.

While noting that fossil fuels constitute only 6 percent of the foundation’s nearly $700 million in holdings, Beyer wrote that “categorically removing this sector would violate prudent investing rules that characterize best practices in asset allocation.”

Beyer also said that OSU’s record on environmental and energy issues was worthy of the support of the foundation, which is a nonprofit entity governed separately from the university.

“OSU is at the forefront in the research and development of technologies designed to improve the deployment of solar, wind and wave energy,” Beyer wrote, adding that OSU is an “unquestioned global leader” in small-scale nuclear energy.