University and college endowments have profited mightily from their stakes in oil and natural gas companies, exceeding all other asset classes, Robert Shapiro, chairman of Sonecon LLC, said in a Jan. 23 press call.

For at least a decade, such shares produced the highest returns for those endowments and crushed other U.S. stocks in comparable time frames, said Shapiro, a former U.S. Department of Commerce official.

Climate activists such as Bill McKibben have launched initiatives to get universities to divest within five years from corporations that hold fossil fuel reserves. ...