Fossil
Free Rhode Island Escalates Push for Divestment at University of Rhode Island
Contact
Robert Malin
Fossil Free Rhode Island has been waging a
campaign to convince the University of Rhode Island to divest from fossil fuel
companies. Such campaigns have been gathering steam across New England and
around the globe. Earlier this month, 19 students were arrested by Yale police
at a divestment sit-in. Harvard students, faculty and alumni have been making
daily headlines.
Fossil Free RI spent a year “going through channels”
and presenting the moral and logical argument that “if it’s wrong to wreck the
climate, then it’s wrong to profit from that wreckage.”
A little over a
year ago, the request to divest was turned down by the URI Foundation, which
manages the university’s endowment. Community support for divestment has
continued to grow, and in response, Fossil Free RI has decided to escalate its
campaign and has become a member of the Multi-School Fossil Free Divestment Fund.[FN1].
Ron Creamer, a URI alumnus and Fossil Free RI member
who practices law, read the rules and regulations of the Multi-School Fossil
Free Divestment Fund. He said: “It is well-organized and set up for the
sole purpose of providing an alternative for alumni to invest their funds in a
way that may force schools to review their policies on investing in fossil fuel
companies.”
Philip Petrie, another URI alumnus, said: “Universities need
to step up and do their part to fight climate change by divesting from fossil
fuels, and this innovative fund gives donors a chance to hold the institutions’
feet to the fire.”
In the two years that Fossil Free RI has been waging
its divestment campaign at URI, it has been calling on the university to live
up to its motto “Think Big—We Do.” “What’s the use of training students in
climate mitigation and adaptation strategies while at the same time investing
in the very industry that is wreaking havoc around the globe?” asks Marie
Schopac, a member of Fossil Free RI.
A little over a year ago, the URI Foundation turned
down the divestment request. Interestingly, URI Foundation’s investment board
itself has quietly suggested that it is sympathetic, which raises the question,
who or what is actually stopping them?
As reported in the
Providence Journal [2] at the signing
of the Resilient RI Act of 2014, URI President David Dooley pledged the
continuing support of his researchers, professors and students to work “with
people who believe what scientists have to say about [climate change].”
He added: “We are committed to doing our part.” Fossil Free RI
asks, how can the university claim to be doing its part when it invests in the
very industry that is causing the problem?
It is impossible to reconcile fossil fuel investment
with the fact that “coastal development and climate change are rapidly
changing the world’s coastlines and dramatically increasing risks of
catastrophic damage,” as URI’s Coastal Research Center states in its report Coasts At Risk. [3]
Fossil Free RI fails to understand how URI can
continue to invest in the fossil fuel industry, the leading cause of world food
shortages, desertification and political instability, while at the same time
promoting sustainability through many of its programs such as Sustainable Agriculture @ URI [4] and the ASSESS Project in
West Africa. [5]
As to why divestment works, Fossil Free RI agrees with
Divest Harvard, which summed up the arguments as follows: “Divestment will
decrease the political power of the fossil fuel industry by taking away their
social license. Today, politicians will refuse donations from tobacco
corporations because they do not want to be associated with the industry’s
toxic image. We need politicians to treat fossil fuel corporations the same
way, and divestment will help us get there.“
Fossil Free RI respectfully requests a meeting with
President Dooley to resolve the moral incongruities noted above.