On March 4, 30 Yale students and staff members held a sit-in in at the Yale Investments Office, the second sit-in at that office. In December 2018, hundreds marched and rallied while 54 students sat in.
Two members of the Endowment Justice Coalition, which includes Fossil Free Yale, Yale Students for Prison Divestment, CT Puerto Rican Agenda, Local 33 UNITE HERE, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and many more campus and community groups attempted to deliver a message to the Yale Investment Office on the 5th floor of the building. They were not allowed to deliver the letter of demands. Instead, the door was locked behind them and the elevators were shut off while security and office staff laughed.
Organizers read the two primary demands of the movement:
1) Disclose all investments in Puerto Rican debt & instruct fund managers with investments in Puerto Rican debt to cancel that debt; and
2) Disclose & divest all holdings in fossil fuel companies.
With an endowment of over $27 billion, Yale directly invests hundreds of millions of dollars in Puerto Rican debt. By profiting off the Puerto Rican debt crisis, Yale and its fund managers make millions while Puerto Ricans are forced to endure harsh austerity measures under the illegitimate PROMESA regime – an un-elected “oversight board” established in 2016 with the goal of forcing the colonized island nation to pay back $123 billion in unjust debt. These measures include cuts to public housing, education, social programs, and have also resulted in increased militarization of police in response to anti-austerity protests.
A presentation during the sit-in also highlighted Yale’s investment in private prisons, demanding that Yale release a list of its donations in those private prisons. Yale has responded by refusing to disclose its investments. David Swensen, the University’s Chief Investment Officer, has responded to this demand by saying “in some sense, it’s irrelevant” whether or not private prisons are in the list of the University’s investments because “it could be in there tomorrow.” This only shows that while Yale has talked about transparent or “ethical” investments, it is motivated by profit.
An additional demand was that Yale divest entirely from the fossil fuel industry. Yale invests nearly $700 million in that industry, including $78 million in Antero, one of the most environmentally offensive fracking companies in North America because of its use of harmful chemicals in the process.
The sit-in lasted for over two hours until Yale Police, who are deputized by the City of New Haven and act as officers around the city, arrested and cited 15 demonstrators with “trespassing” for trying to deliver a message and demand justice. Students responded by chanting “we’ll be back, we shall not be moved,” a promise to continue the struggles for justice for Puerto Rico and the environment. Each citation is $92, and the GoFundMe page set up for support explains that “Many of the participants rely on financial aid for tuition.”
To view a live-streamed video of the sit-in, visit Fossil Free Yale on Facebook. Fossil Free Yale is also calling on Yale students and alums to sign a pledge to not donate any money to the University until their demands are met.
