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Reed College is among ten U.S. campuses invested in a secretive Cayman Islands fossil fuel portfolio highlighted by the so called "Paradise Papers."
As reported by the Portland Tribune, documents from a Bermudian law firm leaked to a German publication and the published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reveal that Reed College has money in Encap, an investment fund that serves as a source of venture capital for oil and gas companies.
Student-organized divestment campaigns aimed at pulling university dollars out of fossil fuel-related investments have fallen mostly on deaf ears.
Reed has a longstanding policy of remaining politically neutral in its investments. In the 1980s, despite student-led sit ins and protests, the college declined divest from companies that supported apartheid in South Africa.
Kevin Myers, a Reed spokesman, denied that the investments highlighted in the Paradise Papers belied any wrongdoing on the part of the university. Meyers said the school wasn't avoiding taxes or trying to hide its investments.
"They're just super complicated investment vehicles," Meyers told the Portland Tribune. "That's just kind of the mechanism for how that's done. It's just kind of a way that certain investment managers make it easier."