Who will be a climate superhero... And who will be Big Oil's sidekick?
Who will be a climate superhero... And who will be Big Oil's sidekick?
Meet the Harvard Corporation. They’re the 13 members of Harvard’s highest governing board — and their superpower is controlling a $42 billion endowment. But as duty calls, the Harvard Corporation is missing in action.
Will they let the bad guys win? Or will they step up and be the heroes the planet needs?
Meet the Harvard Corporation. They’re the 13 members of Harvard’s highest governing board — and their superpower is controlling a $42 billion endowment. But as duty calls, the Harvard Corporation is missing in action.
Will they let the bad guys win? Or will they step up and be the heroes the planet needs?
The Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility
The Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility
The Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (CCSR) is a four-person (plus Bacow, Harvard’s president) subcommittee of the Harvard Corporation. They get together to think about Harvard’s endowment, and are ultimately responsible for making investment recommendations to the rest of the Corporation members.
The Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (CCSR) is a four-person (plus Bacow, Harvard’s president) subcommittee of the Harvard Corporation. They get together to think about Harvard’s endowment, and are ultimately responsible for making investment recommendations to the rest of the Corporation members.
After serving in the Harvard Corporation since 2011, Lawrence S. Bacow suited up in 2018 as the 29th President of Harvard University. And as a longtime scholar of environmental studies at MIT, he pledged to bring a real understanding of climate change to the job. However, while he’s been a real leader in advocating for affirmative action and other essential issues, his commitment to genuine climate action is still up in the air. From his repeated insistence that we can’t risk “alienating and demonizing” fossil fuel companies (you know, the guys setting the planet on fire) to his preference for “engagement” with fossil fuel companies (despite no evidence that asking nicely is enough to make oil and gas companies give up their core business model), it’s still unclear what future he’s fighting for. Will he stand with his students, faculty, and alumni? Or will he keep letting the chance to lead pass by?
One of the most recent additions to the Corporation, Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar has fought for justice as a scholar and jurist. From his service as a member of the California Supreme Court and his time as a Stanford Law School professor to his role in presidential administrations to his work fighting global poverty, he’s become known as a leader on issues of immigration, public health, criminal justice, and more. And he’s spoken up about the need for Harvard to “live up to its promise as a force for creativity, integrity, and humanity” — a worthy mission indeed. But as Big Oil threatens to destroy everything he’s fought for, will he turn his words into action on divestment?
As the treasurer of Harvard University, a member of the Harvard Corporation, and a board member of the Harvard Management Company, Paul J. Finnegan has devoted countless hours of service to an institution with truth as its motto. But as co-CEO of the private equity group Madison Dearborn Partners, he’s also overseen a firm that has invested in pipeline projects — supporting the companies that put Harvard’s mission at risk. If his donations to various politicians that express climate skepticism and/or actively deny climate science (including Mitch McConnell, Dennis Hastert, and George W. Bush) are any sign, he doesn’t see the industry’s decades of attacks on science and truth as a threat to the cause of veritas. Paul Finnegan’s omnipresence at Harvard has led former university president Drew Faust to “marvel at how Paul Finnegan seems to be everywhere.” But a true Harvard Hero must look out for the future of students, faculty, and the community — will Finnegan see this before it’s too late?
The Harvard Corporation’s senior fellow William F. Lee has earned his cape as a defender of the university’s affirmative action commitments. And his work as a special assistant to the Massachusetts attorney general to investigate racial bias in state courts makes it clear that he cares about issues of fairness. But as a lawyer at top law firm WilmerHale and a former Harvard Law School faculty member, he should recognize that an industry whose business model is based on the theft of people’s futures isn’t a sustainable one — and that an industry whose activities disproportionately harm the least well-off (especially communities of color) is no ally. When will he recognize that the industry most responsible for damaging the earth and the people living on it has no place in the halls of justice?
A leading scientist and the first female president of Princeton University, Shirley M. Tilghman has been a trailblazer on all sorts of issues. Elected to the Corporation in 2016, she has a distinguished scientific background in molecular biology, and as a current Princeton faculty member, she’s known for her advocacy for women in science. (Note: Women climate scientists have long told us that carbon dioxide emissions are causing climate change, and that a warming world disproportionately affects women!) Tilghman’s pioneering research includes working as a member of the National Research Council to plan the Human Genome Project, as well as working to clone the first mammalian gene (unfortunately, she can’t help us clone Earth — there really is no Planet B). With her strong background in science, Tilghman must recognize the urgency to take action against the perpetrators of the climate crisis. As Princeton touts its ties with leading polluters, and Harvard remains invested in an industry that’s spent decades attacking scientific consensus, what will it take for her to speak out against the destruction of her students’ futures?
The REST of the Corporation
The REST of the Corporation
The remaining members of the Harvard Corporation do not serve on the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility. BUT they are still responsible for making divestment decisions! These people jointly control the university’s $42 billion endowment.
The remaining members of the Harvard Corporation do not serve on the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility. BUT they are still responsible for making divestment decisions! These people jointly control the university’s $42 billion endowment.
Timothy R. Barakett serves as the chair of TRB Advisors, a global direct investment business, and he joined the Harvard Corporation in 2019. Previously, he founded Atticus Capital, the largest hedge fund management firm in the world as of 2007. His work as a philanthropist (he’s donated $25 million for the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences and founded the Timothy and Michele Barakett Foundation, which primarily supports social justice initiatives regarding healthcare and education) and as a health advocate (he has been a board member for the Mount Sinai Hospital, Continuum Health Partners, and St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center) make it clear that he cares about his communities. Indeed, his charity has sponsored climate and ecosystem protection initiatives. Seems quite contradictory, then, that Atticus Capital invested in energy and fossil fuels, industries that have a direct negative impact on both health and social justice, and that the Harvard Corporation continues to defend its embrace of the fossil fuel industry’s vision for the future. As the consequences of climate change to health and public well-being become clear, can he rise to the challenge of fighting for the health of our communities and our planet?
Theodore V. Wells has been a member of the Corporation since 2012. But he has an alter-ego too: he’s a partner at at top law firm Paul|Weiss, where some of his past clients include tobacco giant Philip Morris, big banks like Citigroup and Bank of America, disgraced political figures including Elliot Spitzer and Scooter Libby… and ExxonMobil. Using tactics termed “blatantly obstructionist” and “disingenuous,” he’s sought to convince courts around the country that when it comes to accounting for climate change, (in his own words) “ExxonMobil did nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing wrong.” You don’t need any special powers to grasp the overwhelming evidence to the contrary — so is he covering for a client? Or even worse, does he believe what he’s saying?
David M. Rubenstein, who’s served on the Corporation since 2017, has made a name for himself as a leading philanthropist. He served in the Carter administration and as a Congressional attorney, and has since gone on to sit on a variety of boards including the Brookings Institution, Duke University, the University of Chicago, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. But he’s also the co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, which manages about $2.5 billion in fossil fuels (and more than $170 billion in assets across the world), and has gone on national television to tout the “great fortunes” to be made in fossil fuels. As a leader in the field, surely he knows that even the most generous philanthropy can be insufficient at solving society’s most pressing issues — especially when it’s money coming from the creation of those very problems. When will Rubenstein realize that a real superhero must stay true to their values… whether or not they’re wearing the mask?
Carolyn “Biddy” Martin joined the Harvard Corporation in 2018 after a career in education. She began as a professor of German studies at Cornell University, later becoming a dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Madison, and finally working as the 19th president of Amherst College (which still hasn’t divested from fossil fuels!). At UW Madison, she clashed with Governor Scott Walker in defense of workers’ rights. Given the immense ties between labor justice and climate justice, she has a chance to renew her commitment by divesting Amherst and Harvard’s endowments from the inherently exploitative industry of fossil fuels — does she plan to be a crusader for the same cause now as she stood for then?
A member of the Corporation since 2014, Karen Gordon Mills has sought to be a guardian of the little guy: As the head of the Obama Administration’s U.S. Small Business Administration, she pushed for the government to award contracts to small businesses in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and as a member of the National Economic Council, she sought to lift up the middle class. She also is a senior fellow at the Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School, and the president of the MMP Group, a private equity firm. At Harvard, Mills previously served as a member of the Board of Overseers from 1999 to 2005, and later became its vice chair. Now that she’s on the Corporation, will she continue her commitment to everyday Americans and recognize that fighting for the underdog means taking on the fossil fuel giants?
A Harvard Corporation member since 2014, Kenneth I. Chenault is the former chair and CEO of American Express Company. Currently, he works for venture capital firm General Catalyst and is a senior fellow at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School. Chenault was the third ever Black CEO of a Fortune 500 company and is a founding donor to the Art for Justice Fund, a foundation that works to reduce prison populations and create employment opportunities for felons. He’s done real work to address systemic issues in society — is he going to let the companies that perpetuate racial, economic, and social injustice to operate get away?
Diana L. Nelson has demonstrated a broad commitment to Harvard, co-chairing the Harvard College fund and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences task force on the undergraduate experience, and serving as a member of the Board of Overseers from 2010-2016. She’s been a member of the Corporation since 2020 and also has extensive experience in the nonprofit sector, after working closely with KIPP and Teach For America and serving as a trustee of the Carlson Family Foundation, Allen-Stevenson School, and San Francisco Day School. Her demonstrated interest in education, children, and the arts is exemplified by her work with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, and the World Childhood Foundation USA. But now more than ever, young people need a fighter… will Nelson answer the call?
Penny S. Pritzker created the Pritzker Realty Group in 1991 and is part of a family that runs an extensive network of businesses worth around $29 billion. She served as the Secretary of Commerce for the Obama administration from 2013-2017, joined the Harvard Board of Overseers in 2012, and was elected to the Harvard Corporation in 2018. Although Pritzker has not spoken publicly on divestment, her history of speaking and writing about climate change makes it clear that she understands the science — as a member of the Corporation, will she use her superpowers to make a difference?