Harvard University will divest its $41 billion endowment from fossil fuels, citing the financial imprudence of those investments, its leadership announced late last week. The move from the nation’s oldest university, with the largest university endowment, is a dramatic turn in the years-long battle between the administration and organizers both on- and off-campus. The university’s statement did not set a timeline, nor use the words “divest” or “divestment,” but activists are taking the win. “So long as Harvard follows through, this is divestment,” Connor Chung ’23, a Divest Harvard organizer, told the Crimson. “This is what they told us for a decade they couldn’t do, and today, the students, faculty, and alumni have been vindicated.”

Harvard’s announcement could have greater implications than just its sizable endowment. “The fact that Harvard is finally indicating that it is no longer supporting the fossil fuel community is a large domino to fall,” Danielle Strasburger, a 2018 Harvard graduate who co-founded an alumni divestment movement, told the New York Times. “Hopefully this will encourage other universities to put the pressure on those who haven’t yet.” (Boston Globe $, New York Times $, Harvard Crimson, Washington Post $, Democracy Now, The Hill, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal $, HuffPost, Reuters, The Guardian, AP, NPR, Bloomberg $, Al Jazeera)