Three triggered Hamilton College students have penned a critical letter slamming Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon for mocking their radical climate activism.
Sachs is a Hamilton College alumni, as well as the chair of the college’s Board of Trustees, and on March 3rd the students had an opportunity to speak with him.
“On March 3, we attended the Senior Networking with Trustees event in the hope of speaking with trustees about divestment and other important campus issues,” the letter published in Medium begins.
Divestment is a movement by radical climate change activists to force institutions like Hamilton College to invest less of their endowments in companies affiliated with fossil fuels.
LTE: Divestment, Disillusionment, and Disrespect: our experience with David Solomon
– Three members of the Class of 2023 pic.twitter.com/jERp3bG4iN
— Philoinvestor (@philoinvestor) August 13, 2023
According to the three students, all of whom have chosen to remain anonymous, when they spoke to Sachs about divestment, he started lecturing them about reality — and they greatly, greatly, greatly resented this.
“Throughout the discussion, Solomon’s attitude and behavior toward us and our questions carried extremely racist and sexist undertones. His blatant ignorance and disrespect is one we feel obligated to share with the campus community,” they wrote.
What exactly did he do that exhibited “ignorance and disrespect,” in addition to “Racist and sexist undertones?” He told them the truth.
For example, he “indicated that he thought fossil fuel divestment was a stupid movement” and he called them “hypocritical for advocating for divestment when [they] still use electricity and drive cars.” He also said that “if [they] traveled to countries like China, India, and Cambodia [they] would see how the world ‘really works.'”
Solomon also committed the crime of telling a joke.
“At one point, he laughed and told us he’d be dead in thirty years, so climate change would be our problem anyway. Yet, later in the conversation, he asserted his optimism for the future of society and our planet,” the students wrote.
And, worse, he — a man with decades of real-world experience — had the nerve to not listen and learn from them, three snot-nosed teeny bopper college students.
“His willful ignorance continued, with seemingly no intention to actually learn or genuinely engage with us beyond belittling us. When we brought up the topic of climate justice and he didn’t know what it was, we patiently explained it to him,” they whined.
“Yet, as the conversation continued, Solomon still claimed that he had no idea what climate justice is. He lacked any regard for some of the most integral concepts our Hamilton education has taught us– intersectionality and justice– as anyone who has fulfilled the Social, Structural, and Institutional Hierarchies (SSIH) requirement should be able to tell you,” they continued whining.
I’d go and fetch David’s coffee / lunch everyday just to get some sense of how he thinks ‘ operates. This group lost an opportunity and it will likely continue the rest of their lives. They deserve to lose.
— Jackie Rohr (@fbiagentrohr) August 12, 2023
At one point during their discussion, the students lectured Solomon that Hamilton College “is supposed to be run for the benefit of the students.”
Therefore, they argued, “financially fueling the climate crisis through our endowment [investments in fossil fuel] is antithetical to our mission.”
Then Solomon did it. He unveiled the racist monster inside him by … accusing the students of being among the 80 percent of Hamilton students on financial aid.
“He pointed at each one of us, claiming that all of us must be on financial aid; he implied that we should show immense gratitude because we are in debt to the college’s endowment and that we should not complain about its investment portfolio,” the students wrote in their pouty letter.
“Once we all looked shocked at the claim, he quickly backtracked, citing the statistic that something like 80% of Hamilton students are on some kind of financial aid. It is important to note that the group of six or so people talking to him were all non-male, and at least half were people of color. We believe that he never would have assumed we were all on financial aid if we were the group of white male students in suits talking to him twenty minutes prior,” they added.
I don’t think this was a reflection on David Solomon, rather it’s a reflection on the students and the state of academia in the United States.
— David (@David_PAGC) August 12, 2023
Concluding their screed, the three students cried over Solomon telling them that their efforts at combatting climate change are “a nice thought but …. not how the world works.”
“We are ashamed, embarrassed, and scared that David Solomon is the face and voice of Hamilton College through his position as the Chair of the Board. Solomon’s opinions are not just words — his sentiments hold real weight and power. His words do so much damage to the members of our campus community advocating for and most affected by climate change,” they wrote.
The letter is predictably being heavily mocked on social media, where it turns out that the actual adults mostly agree with Solomon, not the three loudmouth children …
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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