February 21, 2023
How Change Is Actually Made on Campus
By Lisa Herforth-Hebbert
When Princeton University announced its decision to divest its $35 billion endowment, the role of student activists was erased. Proper recognition matters for future generations of organizers.
By Hannah Reynolds and Tom Taylor
In September 2022, Princeton University announced plans to divest its $35 billion endowment and to end financial research ties with 90 fossil fuel companies, including ExxonMobil, Synergy, and Total. “We’re grateful to the Princeton faculty members who dedicated their time and expertise to addressing an important and challenging set of questions,” wrote Weezie Sams, the chair of Princeton’s board, in its announcement. “It is thanks to their work, and the engagement of many members of the University community, that we’re able to take these steps today.”
But the announcement pointedly erased Divest Princeton from this historic moment. Instead, Sams wrote of a “community-initiated two-year process.” This language buries the fact that the process actually began in the fall of 2019 when a group of Divest Princeton supporters began organizing, researching and writing. Those dedicated efforts led to the submission of a formal proposal for divestment from fossil fuels in February 2020. For the next two and a half years, it was the unrelenting work of Divest Princeton activists that kept divestment—and Princeton’s role in the climate crisis—front and center.
This is not the first time we have seen the university erase the role of student activism. In 2020, after Princeton removed the name of Woodrow Wilson from the School for Public and International Affairs following years of student organizing, the Black Justice League also called for an honest acknowledgement. “President Eisgruber, if you and the University Board of Trustees want to demonstrate your collective commitment to improving the material conditions of Black people on campus and beyond, acknowledge the work of past student organizers, including the Black Justice League, and heed the demands of current student organizers.”
