By Sarah Steck
When:
January 2014- present day
Where:
The University of Denver, Denver, CO, 80210
Practitioners:
- Divest DU Core Team- Kengo Nagaoka, Lilly Goss, Lori Scott, Claire Hassler, Danny Brown, Carly Leroy, Tina Payne, and Callyn Gonzalez.
- Chancellor Rebecca Chopp and the Board of Trustees
- Task Force on Divestment- Dr. Jim Griesemer, Cappy Shopneck, and Craig Harrison
- International fossil fuel divestment campaigns
Further insight:
Contributed by:
Sarah Steck
Back in 2014, a small group of frustrated students from the University of Denver called out to the rest of the student body, staff, administration, professors, alumni, and contributing donors to organize in order to fight the school's investment in fossil fuels. They came together, forming the official activist student organization Divest DU, to point out the contradictions existing between the university's mission statement and their investments, demanding their actions change to become aligned with their mission statement.
The University’s mission statement claims it to be a “great private University dedicated to the public good.” However, their actions do not reflect this as they continue to invest their endowments into the fossil fuel industry that harms the state of our planet. Their investments work to support the main source of carbon emission that is a major contribution to climate change, according to the scientific consensus. The club stated, “It is immoral for our school to be presenting itself as a champion of environmental sustainability while it profits from climate destruction.”
One challenge that Divest DU faces is that the University is a private institution, meaning its financial records are not forced to be made available to the public by law, as we see with public universities. The school’s refusal to to release this information works to disadvantage Divest Du because they are unable to present quantitative facts that portray the impact these investments have on the university and environment. Furthermore, these facts would attract more people to get involved because it reveals the significance of the issue making it a reality, which increases the call for action, thus strengthening the power of the movement. Lilly Goss, a core member of the group, elaborated on this idea, explaining that education is the most important thing with activism because you need to know in order to act, open up the discussion, polarize campus, and push them to feel something. One of the goals of Divest DU emphasises this need for knowledge; transparency, achieved by students overlooking the process of divesting, banning investment in the top 200 fossil fuel entities and reinvesting in things that reverse the environmental damage done by fossil fuels.
Why it’s working:
The movement’s will to fight has been significantly increased by Trump’s administration. His actions, in comparison to Obama’s, are working to support climate change denial and corporate America. The number of members participating has grown as the environment is threatened since the recent election. Divest DU’s position has also reached over 1,700 signatures. Although there has not been any divesting, Goss described that Divest DU is making progress through the increase of participation that demonstrates the topic being open up for discussion. She continues to say that the formal, graduated president said this year more progress has been made than all other years combined.
Why it’s not working:
The group has a rather large social media presence, which is good for organizing and exchanging information. However, the presence has resulted in more slacktivism. This can be seen in the ratio of petition signatures and people showing up to the rallies and other events. Divest DU has achieved over 1,700 signatures, however the average meeting size is only 30 and the largest crowd at an event was just over 125. The slacktivism leads to less people advocating at events, which is detrimental to the group's force, as having less people increases the likelihood of and severity of punishment for rowdy behavior. This ultimately makes the movements events easier to ignore and keep the fossil fuel investments.
In addition, chancellor Chopp and her board of trustees claim that the profit from these investments goes towards things such as scholarships, which allow students from lower income families to be less affected by the coast. Therefore divestment could potentially harm the opportunities the university offers to low income students.
Key tactics:
Some of the tactics Divest DU uses are disruptive rallies, protests, walkouts, and disruption of opponents gatherings, or “march ins.” These events call upon the board of trustees and the university’s chancellor, Rebecca Chopp to divest in order to protect our futures. At these events the organization presents facts about climate change, the actions of Trump’s administration, and give personal insight. This past January, Divest DU, along with 40 other universities nationwide, walked out in protest. This event was organized by the Fossil Fuel Divestment Student Network, showing how this global issue can be battled through local action and local goals.
Another tactic used is artistic vigil displayed on the “free speech wall.” Students painted “you said no but we won’t stop,” “put your $$$ where your mouth is,” and “@ chancellor Chopp.” here they balance art with message, demonstrate their experience, and call out to a specific person to address their demands.
A new tactic Divest DU uses that is not in Beautiful Troubles is Inside Man. According to Goss the group has a strong relationship with someone on the board of trustees, which determine whether or not the school will divest. This tactic is helpful because it provides a middleman between the two, thus helping the organization's points maintain validity, and not go ignored by the power hierarchy of the board of trustees. In addition, having an inside man allows Divest DU to get insight into the perspectives of board, allowing them to adjust their approaches as they see fit.
Key principles:
A key principle executed by Divest DU is bringing the issue home. This is done by making a far away, global issue feel smaller by addressing it locally and setting achievable, smaller goals. This increases participation because it makes it personal, raises the hope that the movement can achieve its goals and people feel that their contributions make a difference.
Another key principle is choosing tactics that support your strategy. Divest DU demonstrates a campaign made up of related, interconnected tactics that have a specific target, are planned far in advance and are advertised via social media.. They host events where they meet their target head on, such as presentations to the board, and also events such as rallies that are meant to call upon the public to take action.
A final key principle is taking leadership from those most impacted. Divest DU explains it is their generation that will experience more negatives effects of climate change, thus they believe the choice should be up to made by them, as they are the future.
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