Minnesota State University, Mankato currently reports that all its investments meet environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards when in fact the holding company of its investment firm invests in the industries/companies which profit from war, environmental degradation, and human rights abuse. This means that prospective and current students, employees, and investors are all being given inaccurate information about the university’s investments and are contributing unknowingly to unscrupulous industries/companies. These groups and the greater public are legally entitled to have access to up-to-date, accurate information on this state institution’s investments. 

If MNSU’s investments are not changed in accordance with the Minnesota State University, Mankato Foundation policies, it will represent intentional deception of the public concerning its investments and a disregard for its stated principles. It will mean that those principles as communicated on the university's website are worth about as much as the digital space the words occupy. Furthermore, it will signify that those principles merely served a PR function, to be abandoned once taking a principled stance became inconvenient.

Investing according to ESG principles is a way to show support for industries/companies who act in an ethical manner, with care and concern for workers, the environment, how their products are used, and the welfare of all people around the world. MNSU has already agreed to act in line with these values through its investments. If the school chooses to abandon their ethically-sound investment policy, it will be a decision to instead invest in industries/companies that destroy the environment, mistreat their workers, create the implements of war, engage in human rights abuse, etc. 

The time to act is now, because there is not a single reason to delay. There should be no large barriers to overcome, or people in power to exert influence over. According to MNSU's official record, they have already taken the requested actions as part of their written policy. The truth is that they have not actually taken the requested actions. Therefore, it is not to much to ask the university to do what they say they are already doing, invest in the way they claim to be investing, and uphold their own stated principles. There is no excuse for MNSU to not do what it already has agreed to do, and to do it now.