Harvard Dismisses Climate Change Protesters While MIT Negotiates With Them

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-13/harvard-climate-protest-grows-while-mit-joins-activists-in-talks

As U.S. universities face growing student pressure to divest fossil-fuel holdings from their more than $500 billion in endowments, Cambridge, Massachusetts, finds itself at the center of a great divide.

At Harvard University, students are digging in this week for a blockade of President Drew Faust’s offices, escalating a confrontation over the school’s holdings of oil, gas and coal stocks.

A mile away, Massachusetts Institute of Technology held a debate last week over divestment. The formal and polite event had the blessing of President Rafael Reif, who billed it as the fourth campus-wide conversation on climate change.

The contrasting atmospheres at the neighboring schools reflect the approaches of their leaders and students, as well as a division among U.S. universities. While MIT’s Reif has withheld a decision and engaged with activists, Harvard’s Faust early on dismissed calls to unload investments in the world’s largest energy companies.