Activist students and administrators keep pushing universities to do silly “progressive” things that make them feel good, such as “socially conscious investing.” How a public university invests its money really shouldn’t be any concern of anyone but the taxpayers, but at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, the campus leftists are crowing about their victory in getting the school to divest from fossil fuels.


In today’s Martin Center article, Jay Schalin takes a look at the confrontation at UNC-Asheville.

He points out that under state law, public universities are expected not to take sides in political questions, but when asked about that, a UNC-Asheville spokesperson blandly replied that fighting climate change is part of the university’s values.

Schalin writes:

ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing is a way of shifting large sums of capital into politically motivated hands. It is perfectly acceptable for private individuals or organizations to participate in ESG investing—but not for public entities such as UNC that serve all citizens.

Agreed, but for “progressives,” absolutely everything is political. Even though divestment does nothing to damage the companies that maliciously produce and sell the oil and gas that we all use, it makes them feel good about themselves when they convince university officials to make this empty gesture.

Schalin rightly concludes, “UNC-Asheville’s imprudent divestment decision cries out for responsible action at some high level of governance.”