By Krista Seymour

Last week, following two weeks of deliberation, Pomona’s student government unanimously passed a resolution calling for Pomona College to divest from corporate members of the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), an organization of business trade associations and private companies that denies the existence of global warming. Pomona’s student government is the seventh in the nation to pass a resolution against the GCC. Scripps, CMC, UCLA, and the University of Washington are among the six others. The resolution has arrived after months of student-led actions by the Divestment Club, a subset of the Eco Club, the five-college ecology club.

The Eco Club brought this resolution before the student senates of the five colleges a means of raising corporate awareness of consumer concerns relating to global warming. The organization has joined Ozone Action and Free the Planet, two national environmental organizations, in their campaigns to force multinational corporations to avoid practices deemed ecologically unsound, and pursue research and development in alternative energy sources.

The measure passed by the senate reflects an increasing consciousness among academic institutions across the country concerning the ethical practices of businesses in which they invest. Billy Grayson, a member of the Eco Club, said, "companies don’t care so much because they only feel responsible to shareholders and consumers, and shareholders are only concerned with quarterly profit." He continued, "Students have the power as consumers and trustees have the power as shareholders to say something."

The GCC is an organization of business trade associations and private companies that has corporate members from many sectors of US business, including electric, utilities, railroads, transportation, manufacturing, mining, oil and coal companies. Established in 1989 to coordinate business participation in the scientific and policy debate on the global climate change issue, the GCC has come under much fire in recent years after it claimed that there is no conclusive evidence supporting global warming. In addition, the GCC lobbies against legislation to decrease global warming, citing the great cost to customers and the economy that would accrue if companies were forced to conform to restrictive measures. Pomona is currently invested in five corporations that are members of the GCC: Ford, Texaco, Exxon, GM, and Chrysler.

In contrast to the stance taken by the GCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of 2500 scientists, says that global warming does exist. Two scientists on the panel are professors at the Claremont Colleges, one of whom is Harvey Mudd Professor of Biology Stephen Adolph. The name of the other professor was not available at press time.

The organization predicts an average global temperature increase of four to six degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100. Recently, the IPCC released a statement stating that "the balance of evidence suggests a discernable human influence on the global climate." They maintain that the temperature rise can have a wide range of negative impacts, including droughts, human exposure to new diseases, wetland and coral reef destruction, and a diminished supply of fresh water.

The GCC’s contention that global warming does not exist bothers many students, including Josh Tulkin ’03, a leader of the divestment effort at Pomona. Tulton said, "The GCC, to me, is a symbol of the enemy that is hindering environmental progress and environmental awareness. The GCC is not just lobbying the government; they are miseducating the government." He continued, "They are a symbol of immediate gain over long term benefit for humanity...These companies are undermining educational institutions which support progress through research and education."

Some students, however, feel that Pomona should not concern itself with the environmental practices of the business it invests in. Todd Anderson ’03 said, "It is important that big companies are concerned with environmental issues, but Pomona’s investment in such companies hardly affects their profitability."

Though the senate passed the resolution, the Board of Trustees, the body which controls the college’s finances, has yet to ratify it. The board is expected to release its decision by May.

Meanwhile, the University of Washington has been the only school to ratify the resolution, recently giving a six month ultimatum to companies in which it invested and that were a part of the GCC.

Though Pomona’s Board of Trustees has not yet formally heard about this issue, they have made a stand against companies which students have deemed socially irresponsible in the past. According to Chairman of the Board of Trustees Robert Tranquada, "This was especially important with issues in South Africa and with tobacco." He also remarked that , "We have had a policy for a long time to have a group that reviews our options as owners of equities to make decisions of how to express our feelings on issues that are brought to equity owners. There has been a group of faculty and students that advise the board of these issues as they occur." When asked if the board feels it is their responsibility to monitor the actions of the companies in which they invest, Tranquada said, "The board’s responsibility is to look after the interests of the college. It is an extraordinarily complex issue, and one that frequently finds proponents on both sides, usually with equally valid points of view."

The resolution has to pass through two avenues before it goes to the Board of Trustees. A group of students, faculty and staff who comprise The Committee on Social Responsibility will look at the resolution.

Tulkin is optimistic that Pomona’s Board of Trustees will ratify the resolution. "Our school has a long history of supporting progressive social change, and I have full confidence that they will realize the importance of taking a stand on this issue. If our school wants to lead by example, they need to show it in the simplest ways. Pomona has a longstanding image as a socially conscious school."