As we commit ourselves to the future of Trinity College during our bicentennial year, it is time to divest our endowment from corporations that further the climate crisis and social injustice. 

The climate crisis poses an existential risk to future generations of Trinity students. Investments in fossil fuels accelerate the destructive effects of climate change. In Summit, the College’s strategic plan, Trinity commits “to develop a plan for achieving carbon neutrality, take action to significantly reduce greenhouse gases in the interim, and provide public access to and updates on our climate action plans.” Immediately terminating all the College’s investments in fossil fuel companies is a critical step to realizing Trinity’s commitment to environmental sustainability. Many of Trinity’s peer institutions, such as Amherst, Middlebury, and Williams, have divested from fossil fuels.

Trinity has also made clear commitments to advancing social justice. The College’s 2023 Racial Justice Action Plan states that Trinity will “review all policies, practices, and procedures to ensure alignment with racial and social justice” (5). We are calling on the College to review its endowment investment practices and immediately divest from industries that further the climate crisis and global injustice: fossil fuels, mass incarceration, the military industrial complex, and weapon manufacturing.

We call on Trinity College to immediately make public all financial records regarding endowment investments for the past ten years. Moving forward, we call for the College to release public reports of endowment investments annually and to share these reports with all enrolled students, faculty and staff. 

We call on Trinity College to immediately freeze all investments (including commingled funds) in fossil fuels, mass incarceration, the military industrial complex, and weapon manufacturing. 

We call on Trinity College to withdraw all endowment funds from fossil fuels, militaries, weapon manufacturing, and the prison industrial complex by 2025. 

We call on Trinity College to work with the Board of Trustees and the proper faculty committees to establish written social and environmental guidelines for endowment investment, including the prohibition of investing any funds from the Trinity College endowment in fossil fuels, militaries, manufacturing, and the prison system at any point in the future.

Have questions? Contact: anna.grantbolton@trincoll.edu, olivia.silvey@trincoll.edu, maliah.ryan@trincoll.edu, linnea.mayo@trincoll.edu, caitlin.doherty@trincoll.edu, kendall.dorsey@trincoll.edu, savannah.brooks@trincoll.edu, teodora.brnovic@trincoll.edu