Yale, Stanford and MIT’s fossil fuel investments are illegal, students say

Novel legal strategy argues that top schools including Princeton and Vanderbilt are legally obliged to put the public interest first

Students at five leading universities have filed legal complaints accusing their colleges of breaking a little-known law by investing in the fossil fuel companies responsible for the climate emergency.

The students from Yale, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Vanderbilt wrote to the attorneys general of their respective states on Wednesday asking authorities to investigate breaches of the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, which requires universities to invest in a manner consistent with their charitable purposes".