Shots in the Dark

And why are they called that, anyway?

Stanford announced yesterday that it would divest coal stocks from its portfolio.

As the University’s news site explained,

In taking the action, the trustees endorsed the recommendation of the university’s Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility and Licensing (APIRL). This panel, which includes representatives of students, faculty, staff and alumni, conducted an extensive review over the last several months of the social and environmental implications of investment in fossil fuel companies.

The move will presumably put some pressure on Harvard and Drew Faust, who have said that they will not divest.

As the Washington Post puts it,

…most colleges have not gone along. Harvard, Brown and McKibben’s Middlebury have all rejected the calls to divest. Last fall, Middlebury’s president Ronald D. Liebowitz wrote that the trustees believed that divestment might be a symbolic gesture without impact on the companies and that it might lead to calls to divest from a variety of other companies deemed objectionable.

I think there are a couple ways to look at this. Two and a half, really. One is that Stanford’s move is largely symbolic; in and of itself, it’s not going to have a tangible impact on either coal stocks or coal use. As a symbolic move, though, it might have some power, adding new impetus to the debate at other universities.

But a second point about this event is that it suggests that Stanford has really emerged as a leader of new ideas and that Harvard has become a follower. Its proximity to Silicon Valley puts it much closer to the new heart of the American economy (tech) than Harvard is, and its action is consistent with that.

The half point is this: Can one think of any issue on which Drew Faust has been a leader? A first mover?

She is a very cautious, consensus-driven president, which, to be fair, was her mandate when she got the job. I suspect Faust is an interesting conversationalist in private, but her public oratory could hardly be more platitudinous.

That will probably be enough to make Harvard’s fund drive successful and to dim the memories of Larry Summers’ presidency, and some would say that’s the point.

But if your goals for Harvard are more ambitious, this probably isn’t the president for you.

And sometimes, I couldn’t make them up.

Like this one:

Hi Richard–

I hope you are well! Refinery Hotel invites you to attend the opening reception for “Wilting Point,” a week-long show by performance artist Millie Brown, known for vomiting on Lady Gaga during a performance at this year’s South by Southwest. Join us on Friday, May 9 from 2:30 – 6PM for cocktails and a first-look at the performance.

Um…what kind of cocktails, exactly?

He’s going to Yale.

Truth be told, I’m a little skeptical of this guy. First of all, who applies to all eight Ivy League schools? Second, who publicizes that they got accepted by all of them? (Apparently he held a press conference to announce his choice.)

And, let’s be honest: His college essay was lame.

“The self-guided journey known as music in my life excites my mind every day. My heart sings every day because the journey is already wonderful.”

Etc.

I guess it’s a PR coup for Yale, but in all honesty—the essay, the applying to eight Ivy League schools, the self-promotion—he feels more like a Harvard kid to me.