USG Ballot initiative calls upon Ohio State to disclose its investments

Antonia Campbell
Mon, 03 Mar 2025 16:57:41 +0000
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Members of OHYCJ canvassing digitally to gain signatures for the University Investments Disclosure Initiative on Feb. 1. Credit: Courtesy of Catherine Adams

Ohio State’s Undergraduate Student Government? 2025 election has arrived, with voting beginning at noon Monday and ending at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.?

Beyond the presidential candidates and curiosity about who will make up the body of USG in the coming year, a single ballot initiative encompassing university investment disclosure lies at the bottom of the election ticket. The initiative was created by Ohio Youth for Climate Justice, a “youth-led movement organizing radical action to address the climate crisis” with focus and urgency, according to its website.

This measure also marks the only student-led initiative on the ballot, as it was the sole petition to garner 1,000 or more signatures before the Feb. 14 deadline.

On the USG website, this initiative reads as follows: “Shall the Undergraduate Student Government call upon the Ohio State University to publicly disclose university investments in the Long-Term Investment Pool in specific funds, sectors of the economy, industry groups, industries, and companies in terms of committed USD, for the purpose of increased financial transparency?”

Catherine Adams, Communications Director for OHYCJ and fourth-year in geography, said the organization had long wanted to create an initiative that called for Ohio State to divest from the fossil fuel industry, but Ohio Senate Bill 6, which was passed in December 2024, made them rethink their plan.

“As of December, Ohio law makes it illegal for public institutions such as Ohio State to make investment decisions that do not primarily focus on maximizing profit, so they’re not allowed to consider social, environmental or ethical issues in their investments if they outweigh any profit imperatives,” Adams said. “This would make it illegal for us to do a divestment resolution, even if there is broad student support for that.”

With SB 6 prohibiting Ohio’s higher education institutions from making investment decisions primarily driven by social or environmental objectives, Adams said OHYCJ came up with an initiative that focuses on gaining more financial transparency from the university.

“Through our ballot initiative, we are asking USG to call upon Ohio State to publicly disclose investments in specific funds, sectors of the economy, industries and companies for the purpose of increased financial transparency,” Adams said. “We want to know how much money Ohio State has invested in extractive and destructive industries like the fossil fuel industry and the arms industry. Students and the general public have the right to know how much of OSU’s endowment is being invested in oil, gas, bombs, missiles and drones.”?

According to USG’s Petition Guidelines, petitioners had from Jan. 27 to Feb. 14 to accumulate at least 1,000 signatures for their initiative to be considered eligible. Adams said this task was no simple feat.

Members of OHYCJ canvassing digitally to gain signatures for the University Investments Disclosure Initiative on Feb. 1. Credit: Courtesy of Catherine Adams

“We collected enough signatures before the deadline due to a few weeks of very intense canvassing by 23 ballot initiative circulators,” Adams said. “We had a lot of people working daily, texting, emailing and on the ground talking to people for hours and hours. I believe that it was the work of our ballot initiative circulators that ultimately enabled us to secure enough signatures to get on the ballot. We got 1,154 signatures. We talked to over 3,000 students.”?

Jacob Grismer, a second-year in environmental policy, is a member of OHYCJ and was one of the ballot initiative circulators. He said he believes they were able to achieve their 1,000 signature goal because many students want to see a greater degree of disclosure from the university.

“I think generally, what really resonated with people is the idea that the university should be open, since this is a public institution,” Grismer said. “This is where we’re spending so much time, effort and tuition dollars, and the university should reflect what a public institution should do and be transparent about it so they can also be held accountable.”

Adams also said she thinks the initiative is popular because increased democracy within the university is a favored idea among students, even if there are differing motives for supporting it.

“Based on the hours I spent canvassing, I saw broad student support for this bill in ways that other initiatives did not receive because ultimately, university democracy is pretty popular with undergraduate students,” Adams said. “People want to know what our university is doing with its funds and its investments, so I found that this was a very popular initiative with students who had different reasons for wanting financial transparency, but all believed that Ohio State is behaving in undemocratic ways.”

Grismer said if the initiative is passed this week, he hopes to get immediate clarity from the university, which he said would be a small step in combating climate change.

“Hopefully, the university will disclose,” Grismer said. “Will that happen? We’re not sure, but if not, we’re going to still be committed to climate justice and keep advocating for that to happen. As an environmental policy major, I know how bad it is politically right now for emissions and climate change reductions. But these are the small steps that have made me hopeful.”?

As far as the university’s potential opposition to this initiative, Grismer said the initiative is not designed to take away from its ability to invest.

“I know the university might oppose it, but we believe this would not affect their bottom line at all, and we don’t think this would stop them from having their endowment and being able to give out money through that,” Grismer said. “We just think it’s common sense because it’s a public institution, and we should know what’s happening here.”

In terms of OHYCJ’s overarching goals, Adams said this initiative is only the beginning.

“Ultimately, this is part of our broader campaign for climate justice and university democracy on Ohio State’s campus, so we will not be done,” Adams said. “After this passes, we are going to continue to escalate and put pressure on university administration to listen to the will of the people.”

Students can vote in the USG election by going to its website and clicking the ballot link on the Elections webpage.