Isn’t $108 million a year a small price to pay for the feelings of a small group of campus activists?

The Harvard Crimson reported.

Study: University Could Lose $108 Million Annually If It Divests

A study funded by the petroleum industry has claimed that Harvard would lose $108 million in investment returns per year if it divested its $35.9 billion endowment from fossil fuels.

The divestment debate at the University was fiery last academic year, as student environmental activists and administrators clashed on the issue time and again. In April, members and supporters of activist group Divest Harvard staged a weeklong blockade of Massachusetts Hall, shutting out University President Drew G. Faust and other top administrators from their offices.

Faust has repeatedly argued against divestment and that doing so would unduly politicize the endowment and adding that Harvard can best combat climate change by investing in research and education.

The study, conducted by Bradford Cornell, a visiting professor at California Institute of Technology, examined the cost of divestment for five universities—all of which have continued to invest in fossil fuel stock in spite of protest from students, alumni, and faculty members—by using mutual funds to create proxies for the school’s holdings, which are not disclosed. It claimed that all of them would lose money if they divested.