The primary goal of Boston College’s investment portfolio is to grow the University’s endowment, not to champion social or political causes like fossil fuel divestment, Lindsay Meier, environmental and sustainability policy coordinator, shared at the UGBC Senate meeting on Tuesday night.
“I talked to one of the investment officers a few weeks ago,” Meier, MCAS ’26, said. “His point of view was that it’s not about political or social views, it’s about increasing the endowment as much as possible so that admissions can use it for financial aid, and then the faculty can use it. So, I think right now, they’re not super open to changing that aspect.”
Each year, the University seeks to allocate approximately 4 to 6 percent of its $3.7 billion endowment toward financial aid, endowed faculty chairs, student formation, faculty research and scholarship, and campus maintenance, according to Meier.
Investment officers seek to offset these expenses with annual returns from a diverse investment portfolio, she said.
“The idea is that they have to make up the 4 to 6 percent that they spend every year in investments that they make,” Meier said. “So they’re never losing money—they’re gaining while still spending.”
The problem with trying to assess the size of BC’s investments in fossil fuels, Meier said, lies in the lack of transparency surrounding BC’s endowment. Endowment investing is inherently competitive, and BC values privacy as it seeks to outperform peer universities and charitable trusts, she said.
“We can’t really know any of what they invest in because that’s how investing works,” Meier said. “You don’t want other people to know what you’re doing. It’s kind of a competition between schools.”
Examining other universities’ investment reports, however, can provide a rough estimate, Meier added. As an example, she cited Cornell University, which allocated roughly 4.2 percent of its endowment toward fossil fuel–related investments, according to the most recent publicly available data.
“So the guess is that [BC’s fossil fuel investment] is pretty small, but we don’t really know for sure,” Meier said.
Multiple senators acknowledged that passing a resolution would be a symbolic gesture, carrying little weight with administrators. Even still, Colleen Blascik, first-generation student representative and MCAS ’27, said doing so would continue a long tradition of BC students speaking out in favor of fossil-fuel divestment.
“Even if we get a statement or something out there, even if there’s no follow-up action, the fact that there’s history and there is documentation to show the students want this for the future,” Blascik said.
Because the endowment plays a crucial role in providing financial support for students and faculty, Meier said the Senate would need to offer alternative investment strategies if they wanted to challenge fossil fuel investments.
“If they’re not increasing the endowment, it’s going to affect things like financial aid, faculty, and campus maintenance, so we kind of have to think about everything that it’s going to entail if we do ask them to divest,” Meier said.
H Edwards, QLC policy coordinator and MCAS ’26, said the University could consider more sustainable investments so that students do not have to choose between environmental priorities and increased tuition.
“I feel like it’s a little strange to have this growing fear of, ‘Do I have to choose between the safety of the environment in my world or my tuition raising,’” Edwards said. “I feel like BC has the ability to ensure our financial safety while also divesting.”
Student senator Jonathan Shea, MCAS ’25, argued against issuing a unilateral statement without first gathering student input, noting that the student body holds a diverse range of opinions regarding divestment.
“There was a very wide range of beliefs, especially on investment, like ideas and policies that go way outside of this room,” Shea said. “I just think that it wouldn’t be fair to go out and say, ‘This is what the student body was interested in.’”
Later in the meeting, Varun Singh, student senator and MCAS ’26, recapped a recent meeting with Beth Emery, director of BC Dining, about expanding Late Night dining hours.
According to Singh, BC Dining used to offer Late Night dining on weekends, but repeated student conduct offenses made Emery reluctant to revive it.
“It was a lot of drunk students on Friday and Saturday night,” Singh said. “It was a human resources nightmare—they had to have a police detail just to make sure things didn’t go wrong, so they’re not too keen on doing that again.”
Singh said that Emery was receptive to the idea of expanding hours at Addie’s until 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. on weeknights, as long as BC Dining could meet staffing needs.
“Beth said that she’s gonna talk to management [at the Rat] to see why they’re so successful in getting people to work there longer, and hopefully that can result in longer hours at Addie’s,” Singh said.
