A team of students representing divestment campaigns from universities across the country that have received an official ‘NO’ to their ask for fossil fuel divestment teamed up last week to respond. These campuses include, but are not limited to, Brown, Cornell, Vassar, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Harvard, Boston College, Colorado College, Pomona, Roosevelt University, Haverford, CUNY, and Middlebury. For months students have been strategizing, and this past week their hard work and collaboration culminated in a number of creative actions. These student leaders carried the #rejectiondenied message right to their Presidents and delivered this letter.
Here is the great video put together by the team that took action in Boston with over 150 students.
Vassar, Middlebury, Swarthmore, and Haverford taking action.
These student have passion. “Of course we’re not giving up,” said Jimmy O’Dea, a postdoctoral scholar researching clean energy technology and active with Cornell’s divestment campaign. “The no’s campuses have gotten are just responses, not answers or end-alls. This isn’t an ‘ok, if you say so’ kind of movement. This is a ‘spread the word and stand up for what’s right’ kind of movement.’”
We are already seeing our success as our movement grows to a full-blown international effort. From articles in The Guardian talking about how quickly our movement has grown to Alberta Oil Magazine pointing out that if ‘the fossil fuel industry ignores us at their own peril’ to the NY Times articles that divulges that major oil companies are already preparing to pay for carbon.
These students are continuing to build power on their campus and work collectively to lead our movement to the next level. In the words of a great social justice movement leader and divestment support, Nelson Mendela, “It always seems impossible until it is done.”
We’ll keep fighting to be on the right side of history.