Press Release: Harvard University President Refuses to Divest from Prisons

Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign (HPDC) students visited Harvard President Larry Bacow’s Office Hours on Thursday, Feb. 14 at 3:00pm to ask him his plans, if any, to disclose Harvard’s 39 billion dollar endowment investments in companies that significantly profit from the prison-industrial complex. President Bacow holds “office hours” twice a semester, where he allows students to schedule 10-minute slots with him to discuss a topic of their choosing.

Bacow refused to commit to disclosure or divestment, citing concerns that Harvard has a large influence on market investment patterns. Although he claimed that he respects HPDC’s position, in keeping with previous statements, Bacow stated that the university policy of keeping social and political judgments separate from the endowment has served the university well. Furthermore, he cited that Harvard has an obligation primarily to the donors to generate returns from the endowment to support “scholarly endeavors.” He also acknowledged that Harvard has previously divested from industries due to consensus on the morally repugnant nature of those investments, such as tobacco, South African apartheid, and genocide in Darfur.

He claimed that he has had students ask him to divest from many industries, including “corn sweetener,” fast food, and sugar, and that while there are many industries that may be off-putting for various people, the University cannot be responsive to all such concerns. At the end of the meeting, he told the students, “One thing you have to understand about me is that I don’t respond to demands, I respond to reason.”

HPDC has two demands for President Bacow and the Harvard University Corporation in their petition: 1) to disclose Harvard University’s holdings in companies that significantly profit from the prison-industrial complex, and to divest from these companies; 2) to repair and rebuild communities that have been disadvantaged by the prison-industrial complex in Cambridge and Boston. HPDC launched a petition articulating these demands on Monday, February 4, 2019 and has gathered 1,449 signatures as of the morning of February 14. HPDC plans to officially present the petition to President Bacow this semester.