Howstudents finally convinced NYU to divest from fossil fuels

In February 2023, four student activists at Manhattan's New York University got the meeting they'd been waiting for: a chance to tell the school's board of trustees why the university should divest the fossil fuel stocks in its US$5-billion endowment. Their chances were slim: NYU had resisted divestment for two decades and refused even to disclose what investments they owned. The leaders of Sunrise NYU left nothing to chance: they printed their arguments on spiral-bound documents, one student ordered a new outfit for the occasion, and another bought his first tie. The student leaders waited months for a response. Finally, the news came in August 2023 via a letter from board chair William Berkley, a 77-year-old insurance billionaire. NYU, he said, has no direct ownership of companies engaged in fossil fuel extraction and "commits to avoid any direct investments" in such companies in the future.