Stanford students begin 'indefinite' sit-in over fossil fuel divestment
Source: The Guardian
Stanford students begin 'indefinite' sit-in over fossil fuel divestment
Zoë Corbyn in San Francisco
Tuesday 17 November 2015 03.05 GMT
Stanford University students have begun an indefinite sit-in to protest against the institution’s investments in fossil fuels.
According to protest organisers, more than 100 students attempted to enter the main administration building and office of the president on Monday afternoon. The students have been locked out but say they have encircled the building and will camp out there until Stanford acts on their demand to “completely divest” its financial holdings from the fossil fuel industry.
They are demanding action before UN climate negotiations in Paris at the end of November.
In May 2014 Stanford agreed it would not invest any more of its $22.2bn of endowed funds in coal mining companies, and would divest any current holdings. The pledge followed a campaign by student-led organisation Fossil Free Stanford, the group behind the latest protest, which now says that after three years of campaigning and negotiating the administration is not acting quickly enough.
Repeated calls for the university to move beyond coal to full fossil fuel divestment, which also covers oil and gas, have not been heeded. “We refuse to let Stanford stand idly by and continue to remain invested in the companies perpetuating the climate crisis,” said Michael Peñuelas, a Fossil Free Stanford organiser and master’s student.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/17/stanford-students-begin-indefinite-sit-in-over-fossil-fuel-divestment
= new reply since forum marked as read
