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Enbridge Divestment Proposal Collected Feedback

Comments submitted by the community from May-June 2021 on the SRC proposal are available below.

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Pamela Yates-Watson

Alumni, Staff (Jun 30, 2021 03:00 PM)

  • Feedback

    Element 1: Denounce Line 3

    I strongly support denouncing Enbridge Energy Line 3. And I strongly support the board, the administration and our Mac community for creating the energy around this important local issue which has a long reach far beyond "local."


    Element 2: Divest from all liquid holdings in Enbridge Energy

    Yes, I strongly support divesting from all Enbridge Energy holdings and their conglomerate corporations. As part of the rationale, Macalester would be sending a message that the college does not support harmful industry conglomerates which mine and transport fossil fuel and tar sands; does not support past underhanded and illegal operations at Enbridge Energy pipeline survey and construction sites; does not support Enbridge Energy's repeated history of avoiding or omitting legal environmental impact processes to include Native and other local communities who live or have private or tribal land on a pipeline path; does not support using misdirection, malfeasance and misfeasance to falsely assure the public and others that Enbridge Energy follows legal protocols when, in fact, it has a history of not doing so. Macalester is committed to sustainability and to carbon neutrality and this flies in the face of maintaining investment in Enbridge Energy holdings. We can do this! We can divest! Enbridge Energy Line 3 threatens to poison local wetlands and waterways during construction and in the future when the pipeline leaks (all oil pipelines leak eventually); Enbridge Energy Line 3 threatens to poison the sensitive habitat of Minnesota's traditional Anishinaabe wild rice beds and harvests and the water that sustains the rice beds; Enbridge Energy Line 3 will have mancamps, overt or covert, despite EE's argument that theere are "no mancamps on Line3." By divesting from Enbridge Energy, Macalester sends a message to our communities that we have zero tolerance for the habitual presence of mancamps in pipeline construction areas anywhere including current Enbridge Energy pipeline construction areas. Pipeline construction areas are renowned for drawing in human traffickers and their horror trade in girls and women but also boys and men; traffickers will find ways to trade in people and sex despite. It is meaningful that even now, today, Energy Line writes only this on their website, "There are no man camps on Line 3" but says nothing about discouraging or zero tollerance for trafficking at their other projects in the US and around the world. If we search "trafficking" on the Enbridge Energy website the only information provided relates only to Line 3 and dated February 2021. Only vocal pressure by hardy activists about mancamps created a vacuum about trafficking which Enbridge Energy made effort to fill to help overcome resistance to Line 3. Enbridge Energy's "catch up" stance in February of this year about trafficking and only related to their Line 3 project could be a reflection of Enbridge Energy's spirit, care and purpose in their business practices in our community and others and is at complete odds with Macalester's spirit, care and purpose Thank you.


    Element 3: Foster transparent dialogue with the Mac community about the school’s investments

    Yes. A bold step but likely one that Mac needs and will want to take as part of greater movement towards equity and restorative language and practices. Thank you for asking these questions.

Anonymous

Staff (Jun 27, 2021 11:36 AM)

  • Feedback

    Element 1: Denounce Line 3

    Yes, absolutely do this.


    Element 2: Divest from all liquid holdings in Enbridge Energy

    Yes, absolutely do this. I thought that Macalester had already divested from fossil fuels and I am very disappointed that the college is still investing money in this project.


    Element 3: Foster transparent dialogue with the Mac community about the school’s investments

    Yes. As I said before, I had thought Mac was divesting from fossil fuels. The college administration does things like land acknowledgment but turns around and invests in Line 3, which is overwhelmingly opposed by native americans in Minnesota? Macalester college needs to back up its talk with actual action.

Anonymous

Current students (Jun 25, 2021 01:49 PM)

  • Feedback

    Element 1: Denounce Line 3

    Yes


    Element 2: Divest from all liquid holdings in Enbridge Energy

    Yes


    Element 3: Foster transparent dialogue with the Mac community about the school’s investments

    Yes

Katie McCarthy

Current students (Jun 25, 2021 10:05 AM)

  • Feedback

    Element 1: Denounce Line 3

    This is so important! Often students are expected to be the ones to 'make the difference,' but Macalester as an institution is able to create such a big change and minimize its larger carbon footprint.


    Element 2: Divest from all liquid holdings in Enbridge Energy

    Yes!!! Not only should we tell asset managers to divest Macalester's money, Macalester should tell asset managers to invest in sustainable energy and organizations that fight for climate justice.


    Element 3: Foster transparent dialogue with the Mac community about the school’s investments

    The only way for sustained change is acknowledging where we are at.

Anonymous

Current students (Jun 24, 2021 05:32 PM)

  • Feedback

    Element 1: Denounce Line 3

    We can't stand by Line 3 because it contributes to climate change and invades the land of the Anishinaabe people, who hold the rights to the land. It goes against the values of the Macalester community to not denounce Line 3.


    Element 2: Divest from all liquid holdings in Enbridge Energy

    This would put action behind our words. Divesting from Enbridge would be an effective protest against Line 3.


    Element 3: Foster transparent dialogue with the Mac community about the school’s investments

    Trust and honesty makes our community thrive. Not only do we become closer together, but we are more effective when the whole school is working to protect our planet and our rights.

Anonymous

Current students (Jun 24, 2021 04:49 PM)

  • Feedback

    Element 1: Denounce Line 3

    Macalester should not issue a public statement condemning Enbridge's Line 3 tar sands pipeline replacement project. While I agree with the vast majority of our community that we as a society should be working towards a zero emission future to ameliorate the impacts of climate change, I have grave concerns over the impact that issuing a new institutional position on a fraught political issue like Line 3 would have on our community. For decades Macalester has had a documented problem when it comes to fostering a community that is open to diverse political opinions. This has led to a general silencing of student, staff, and faculty voices that do not adhere to the campus orthodoxy. Taking the step of issuing an official denouncement of Line 3 only furthers this problematic pattern by officially declaring that the college is on the side of a vocal majority and has no interest in listening to a largely silent but equally important minority. Instead of denouncing Line 3, Macalester should focus its energy on taking the requisite steps to reaffirm its commitment to free and open debate on campus. This can be done by intentionally fostering spaces where members of the campus community can come together and engage in a true competition of ideas over Line 3 that will hopefully further the ongoing debate about how the United States and its allies can respond to the ongoing problems posed by climate change. In taking this path, as opposed to denouncing Line 3, Macalester can ensure that the opinions of all are heard, no one opinion is given an institutionally privileged status, and that all members of our community can once again feel as though they can engage in debates over controversial topics with their peers in good faith.


    Element 2: Divest from all liquid holdings in Enbridge Energy

    I am not in principle opposed to Macalester College divesting all of its liquid holdings in Enbridge Energy. I am, however, opposed to Macalester divesting its holdings in Enbridge Energy for no other reason than to protest the construction of Line 3. Divestment should not be a weapon afforded to members of the Macalester community in order to achieve their policy goals as those in opposition to Line 3 are currently attempting to do. Instead, the act of divestment should be a carefully weighed business decision that, over an extended period of time, considers both the costs and benefits to the college's financial health from shifting liquid holdings. Moreover, it is a decision that should be left up to the Board of Trustees and the independent wealth managers that the college employs to manage its finances. Unless these entities who are entrusted with the management of Macalester's financial holdings can demonstrate that it is in the best financial interest of Macalester to divest from Enbridge, the college should not move forward with this push for divestment.


    Element 3: Foster transparent dialogue with the Mac community about the school’s investments

    An enhanced level of transparency over the management of Macalester's endowment would be a welcome change to the college's current policies. However, it is critical that with this proposed increase in transparency there would also be a clear statement that members of the Macalester community are not empowered to dictate the financial decisions of the college itself. Establishing boundaries like this would ensure that the management of the endowment is ultimately in the hands of those who have expertise in the area of wealth management and not those who seek to exploit knowledge of Macalester's financial holdings for their own policy projects.

Josh Wink

Current students (Jun 24, 2021 12:20 PM)

  • Feedback

    Element 1: Denounce Line 3

    It is shocking that the school has not done this yet. If the school does not make a statement denouncing Line 3 and does not divest, it is simply pretending to support the causes that students believe in, but actually works against them behind their backs. Macalester likes to say that it is sustainable and believes in fighting climate change, but it cannot say that while still being invested in one of the biggest polluters in the country.


    Element 2: Divest from all liquid holdings in Enbridge Energy

    It is absolutely imperative that the school divests from all liquid holdings in Enbridge Energy as quickly as possible.


    Element 3: Foster transparent dialogue with the Mac community about the school’s investments

    The school needs to be honest and transparent about the management of its endowment, or else we can never be sure that the money isn't being invested into harmful companies like Enbridge.

Alyssa Erding

Alumni, Staff (Jun 24, 2021 12:06 PM)

  • Feedback

    Element 1: Denounce Line 3

    As an institution supposedly at the leading edge of sustainability and climate action (according to national rankings like STARS and Campus Race to Zero Waste), denouncing Line 3 should be a no-brainer. Line 3 in particular violates treaty rights, which are recognized by the constitution and upheld by the courts as the "supreme law of the land."


    Element 2: Divest from all liquid holdings in Enbridge Energy

    My response is the same as above. We can't simply talk the talk. We must walk the walk. Divestment from Enbridge and other pipeline-associated corporations is paramount in our commitments to multiculturalism and service to society.


    Element 3: Foster transparent dialogue with the Mac community about the school’s investments

    In order to foster community and both invoke and deepen the sense of trust shared between members of campus, we have to be open and honest about our investments. As people who fund this institution, we have a right to know where our money is going and how it is being spent. I would not invest my personal funds in these corporations (such as Enbridge) and I will not invest in Macalester any further until I am assured that my fund will be used in a way that upholds our commitments to sustainability, service to society, and antiracism.

Ryan Davies

Current students (Jun 24, 2021 11:17 AM)

  • Feedback

    Element 1: Denounce Line 3

    This is a necessary first step, and should be taken. But it will be really pretty meaningless if Mac doesn’t take action to back up those words. Reinvesting the funds taken from Enbridge into clean and renewable energy (in the form of capital, or in the form of clean energy credits) will send a strong message that Mac wants change and will show other small colleges that change is possible.


    Element 2: Divest from all liquid holdings in Enbridge Energy

    Macalester right now talks a lot about their sustainability initiatives, but has little to show for in terms of their energy use. Tour guides talk about the wind turbine like it’s saving the planet when in reality it provides enough power for 1-2 offices for a year. If the school wants to put their money where their mouth is, Mac should Divest from fossil fuel companies and industries and invest in renewables. A simple starting point is installing solar on the available roof space at Mac. The payback time on that investment would be 10-15 years. Another option, which is better suited to Minnesota’s energy resources is purchasing a turbine at an off site location and utilizing net metering with Xcel energy. A lot of times at Mac it feels like all talk and no action, this is an opportunity to change that. It is an opportunity to cement Mac as a National leader in college campus emission reductions, leaving a legacy that will last for decades.


    Element 3: Foster transparent dialogue with the Mac community about the school’s investments

    Yes this 100% should be the policy. As a member of this community, who proudly wears the Mac crest during my soccer games, I want to know what I am representing. Transparency will not be harmful in the long run, because it will allow for the people who are Mac to help influence what is Mac. Transparency will hopefully pave the way for Mac to act on its words.

Anonymous

Current students (Jun 24, 2021 10:57 AM)

  • Feedback

    Element 1: Denounce Line 3

    Yes, Macalester must use its platform to denounce Line 3.


    Element 2: Divest from all liquid holdings in Enbridge Energy

    Yes, Macalester must not limit its efforts to verbal support only. Without divestment, any verbal support is null.


    Element 3: Foster transparent dialogue with the Mac community about the school’s investments

    The Macalester community deserves to know where the school puts its resources.