How I filed a legal complaint against my university. And why you should too.
Now, it may not seem obvious right away how an obscure financial law could help us avert the climate crisis, but bear with me. When I got to Vanderbilt, I knew immediately that I wanted to be involved with sustainability advocacy on campus— especially a campaign to demand that the university move away from investing in fossil fuels that are causing climate change. Months after I joined the campaign, one thing led to another, and we had taken on a new task— writing a legal complaint against our university with the help of some of the best environmental lawyers.
Background
After months of research and writing, we had followed in the footsteps of activists at Harvard to write our very own legal complaint. Our legal argument centered on an obscure financial law that applies to non-profits, such as universities. The law— the Uniform Prudent Management of Funds Act, or UPMIFA for short— holds non-profits to a higher degree of responsibility as they invest some of their funds. Essentially, universities should be making fiduciary choices that prioritize stable, responsible investments. Still missing the divestment connection? Well, the fossil fuel industry currently is one of the most volatile industries in which to invest.. So, our argument became pretty simple: under the UPMIFA law, if Vanderbilt University continues to invest in fossil fuels, it is violating its fiduciary responsibility as a non-profit.
Before filing our complaint, our campaign at Vanderbilt came together to form a coalition with four other student-led campaigns at Princeton, Yale, Stanford, and MIT. Together, we became the “Fossil Free 5” and wrote press releases, op-eds, and media releases that helped us secure international headlines in the Washington Post, Guardian, CNN, and more. We organized coordinated rallies and protests on our own campuses on the day of our complaints being filed to ensure that our campus communities knew about the action we were taking.
Legal Argument
The core of the legal argument is rooted in the idea of a “duty of care” — a responsibility that nonprofits owe to their investors and the people they serve. In the case of universities, this means that they owe it to their investors, alumni, students, and community to make sound, responsible investments. Investing in the fossil fuel industry flies in the face of that obligation. According to our legal complaints, oil, gas, and coal companies face an extremely uncertain financial future due to mismanagement, the failure to prepare for a renewable energy economy, social pressures and unrest created by the unequally distributed health and economic burdens of fossil fuel products, and the pressures of COVID-19.
Image by wayhomestudio on Freepik
In recent years, fossil fuel stocks have greatly underperformed other investments— while the S&P 500 has gained approximately 189 percent in value since 2011, the S&P Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Index has lost approximately fifty-six percent of its value and the S&P Oil and Gas Equipment Select Industry Index has lost approximately eighty-six percent of its value. Even prior to the COVID-19 crisis, leading financial analyst Jim Cramer stated that fossil fuel stocks were “just done” as profitable investments, thanks to falling demand and the impact of divestment campaigns. In January 2021, the S&P rating agency warned leading fossil fuel companies that they were at risk of imminent credit downgrades due to economic pressures resulting from the energy transition.
It is overwhelmingly clear that investing in fossil fuels isn’t just bad for the environment, it’s harmful for the long-term success of your investment portfolio. To keep their “duty of care,” universities and nonprofits as a whole owe it to themselves and their community to keep their money out of fossil fuels.
Movement Ecology
Whenever I hear about a group or campaign taking an action, my first questions are why and why now?
Our movement, which has existed at Vanderbilt for over two years now, has attempted to work with our administration to alter the university’s investment policies through meetings, demonstrations, and so much more. Taking an action like filing a legal complaint is an effective mode for escalation— adding a new layer of pressure to your campaign through avenues like legal pressure and media/public pressure. At Harvard, the university administration agreed to divest the university’s investment portfolio from fossil fuels within months of the legal complaint filed by students.
So, a strategy like a legal complaint is the right fit for campus-based complaints that feel like they have hit a wall or limit. If you feel like you’ve exhausted the traditional avenues for advocacy at your institution, that’s when it is time to get creative and explore new paths that will capture the attention of the decision-makers!
Lessons to consider
Parallel legal complaints under the UPMIFA law have been filed by student groups against at least 12 universities around the country. Along the way, we’ve found a few helpful tips to make the most out of your own legal complaint strategy:
1. Find a friend
Image by Freepik
As clichéd as it might sound, do not underestimate the strength in numbers. If each of our campaigns had reached out to the media individually, we would never have made headlines. But, by organizing collectively, we were able to build capacity, make more connections, and land more media coverage. While some of us wrote press releases, created media lists, and reached out to publications, others wrote op-eds or fine-tuned the financial arguments in our complaints. The capacity we built allowed us to gain an exclusive in the Washington Post, coverage in international publications like the Guardian and CNN, and publish op-eds in each of our regional newspapers. By coming together, we raised our profile higher than any individual campaign could have on its own.
2. Connect to community
One of the most compelling parts of our argument was to point out the inconsistencies that our university was spouting. Many universities across the country make it a point to market themselves as serving the community in which they are based. At Vanderbilt, that meant that the university often claimed to be a critical investor in the greater Nashville community. Drawing attention to how climate change was affecting Tennesseans, we were able to point out how Vanderbilt’s fossil fuel investments contradicted their motto of “service to the community.”
3. Dig deeper
This is the perfect time to find your inner sleuth. As we dug deeper into the investments at Vanderbilt, and the administrative leaders that held decision-making power, we found that our own university Chancellor was deeply embedded in the fossil fuel industry as a consultant. Such “conflicts of interest” are important to understand and bring to light. Start by finding out who holds the decision-making power at your institution and see what you can find out about their background, work, and affiliations.
4. Who’s in your corner?
As students, we can often have our arguments dismissed because the larger audience doesn’t take us seriously. That is exactly why it is so critical to build up support in your corner. Our five campaigns came together and reached out to any potential supporter we could think of— from the legal experts who wrote the UPMIFA law in the first place to leading climate scientists like Peter Kalmus. Eventually, we earned the backing of dozens of academics with higher credentials than our own. This allowed our argument to be treated with more merit and gain more traction.
5. Don’t start from scratch
There is no reason you should have to start from scratch! With so many schools already having filed complaints, there are plenty of templates and resources you can use as a starting point and to personalize your own campaign. And now is the time to get started.
RCC Fellow – Aaditi Lele – Vanderbilt University
RCC Fellow Aaditi Lele is a sophomore at Vanderbilt University, majoring in Climate Studies and Political Science on the International Politics track, with a minor in South Asian Language and Culture. After graduation, she hopes to attend law school and focus on the intersection of climate justice and international migration law, sparked by her passion for the environment and her immigrant roots. Aaditi also serves as the News Editor for her campus newspaper, The Vanderbilt Hustler, the Vice President of Political Involvement for Vanderbilt Women in Government, and the Policy Communications lead for the climate advocacy group Zero Hour.
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