Divestmenet

By Shelly Banjo in QZ - Columbia University, which manages a $9.2 billion endowment, has decided to pull its money from companies that run private prisons, citing the “larger, ongoing discussion of the issue of mass incarceration that concerns citizens from across the ideological spectrum.” The move, announced by the school’s trustees, comes in response to student-led protests that drew attention to the economics of fast-growing private prisons. Unlike crammed and underfunded state and federally run prisons that benefit when there are fewer inmates, private prisons are incentivized to take in more people to their facilities. The industry also has been criticized for targeting immigrants and minorities.