Northeastern University Students Protest For Fossil Fuel Divestment Nears Two Weeks

October 14th, 2016 by Joshua S Hill

Students from Northeastern University began a sit-in protest on the central quad on October 3rd in protest of the university’s financial ties to the fossil fuel industries, and in an attempt to force the university to divest from those investments.

The Northeastern University students are camped out on the Centennial Common in dozens of tents and a giant banner reading “Stop Funding Climate Change.” The students are nearing the end of their second week of protest.

“I’ve slept out here every night the last week, through the cold and the rain,” said Riale Gilligan, a sophomore chemical engineering & physics major and DivestNU member. “It hasn’t been easy, but the millions on the front lines of climate change who’ve lost their homes to extreme weather face a similar challenge every day.”

The students have received public support from Bill McKibben, renowned author and environmentalist, as well as the founder of grassroots climate movement 350.org. However, there has been no movement on the part of the administration, except for acknowledging the protest.

“I’m disappointed that the university has been silent,” said Beth Ventura, a third year biochemistry student. “But we refuse to be silenced. We’ll stay here and escalate if that’s what it comes to. Our future is at stake.”

Image Credits: DivestNU on Twitter











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