As we conclude our sit-in, we are happy to report that the RISD Administration has agreed to hear the case for divestment from fossil fuels at the May 17th Board of Trustees Meeting. We celebrate the success of our nonviolent resistance and look forward to continuing the fight for divestment. Our actions have changed the conversation about climate change and divestment across the RISD community; we have made a clear statement about our commitment and have garnered incredible support from the RISD student body and faculty. We hope to build on that support as we push for RISD to be a true leader in the fight against climate change.

We are thrilled that we will have the opportunity to present the case for divestment at the Board of Trustees meeting on May 17th, where we will ask that they respond in a manner that reflects the urgency of the climate crisis. In addition, we have succeeded in securing our involvement in a process to reform curricula and the RISD Master Plan to integrate sustainability into the college’s core values. While we are leaving the administration’s offices with a major victory, we recognize that our success today is only the beginning. We will continue to pursue a variety of nonviolent tactics to ensure RISD’s accountability on these matters.

We are so grateful for all of the support we have received from our friends, from the RISD and Providence communities and from people all over the country who recognize the critical importance of this fight. We thank you with all of our hearts.

We also want to thank members of the RISD Administration who met with us during our sit-in: President John Maeda, Provost Roseanne Somerson, Vice President for Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy, and Vice President for Finance and Administration Bill Decatur. We appreciate our multiple productive conversations and look forward to hearing more from them about how they plan to ensure RISD’s moral leadership on the most significant human rights issues of our time.

Sincerely,

The Divest RISD Team
Emma Beede
Yves-Olivier Mandereau
Noelle Antignano
John Jennings
Paul Savovici
Ryan Mather
Margaret Kearney
Mateo Ward
Phoebe Wahl
Megan Farris
Angela Choi
Nelle Horsley
Joseph Escobar
Erica Pernice
Kalya O’Donoghue
Ayodhya Ouditt
Mary Krochmalny
Brigid Rau
Eliot Basset-Cann
Emily Pun
Alice Glasser