ANN ARBOR, Mich. – University of Michigan’s president announced a massive change in where the school invests its money and the companies it chooses to partner with.
The university’s new president, Santa Ono, told a crowd of campus leaders that the school would be investing $300 million in socially responsible companies.
A socially responsible company works to protect the environment and operates transparently while also providing a strong financial return.
The plan follows a trend among universities and colleges across the country over the last decade, but has become a focus primarily in the wake of the 2020 protests against racial injustice.
It is currently unclear which companies the university will be investing in, a spokesperson said in a statement, “there remain many details still to be worked out.”
We do know that the school will be working with a third-party company called Sustainalytics that scores companies on a socially responsible scale. The university would then choose from that list.