U of Illinois faculty leaders urge coal divestment

URBANA, Ill. (AP) - Faculty leaders at the University of Illinois' largest campus are pushing the university to divest its remaining coal-related holdings.

Members of the Academic Senate at the Urbana-Champaign campus voted Monday for a resolution calling on the trustees who oversee the university to unload its remaining coal-related investments.

According to The News-Gazette in Champaign (http://bit.ly/1SNQPgM ), the university no longer directly invests in coal-related companies. But it still has $5.1 million invested indirectly through stock index funds in coal-mining forms and utilities that use coal.

The voice vote was not unanimous, but it was not clear what the margin was.

University officials in the past have said they do not have plans to drop remaining coal holdings. University spokesman Tom Hardy said he does not believe that position has changed.

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Information from: The News-Gazette, http://www.news-gazette.com