[Note: The following is a letter sent May 15 from UCSB faculty members to the office of Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider.]

Dear Mayor Helene Schneider,

We are a group of UCSB faculty in support of the fossil fuel divestment campaigns sweeping universities, cities, churches and other institutions right now.

There have been resolutions passed by both the UCSB and SBCC student senates to have their campuses divest from the fossil fuel industry, and there is a campaign now among faculty at UCSB to call on our faculty Legislature to do the same.

Some of us have been in contact with organizers from the group 350 Santa Barbara, who say they have been in communication with you about fossil fuel divestment.

It is our understanding that you told them the City of Santa Barbara divested long ago. We think it would make a strong statement to publicly state that the city has already divested and will not invest in any fossil fuel companies in the future, that you support these recent campus divestment initiatives and that you hope other local institutions will consider divesting as well.

It is in the interest of the economy, the public’s health and general welfare, and our globally shared environment that we support these divestment initiatives wherever they may continue cropping up.

Great changes start with small steps. Please join us in taking those steps now. The whole world is waiting.

Sincerely,

John Foran, Sociology

Elisabeth Weber, German

Harold Marcuse, History

Ruth Hellier-Tinoco, Music

Paul Spickard, Asian-American Studies

Aranye Fradenburg, English

David Lopez-Carr, Geography

Lisa Parks, Film and Media Studies

Greg Mohr, Environmental Studies

Marc McGinnes, Environmental Studies

Casey Walsh, Anthropology

Raymond Clemençon, Global and International Studies

David Cleveland, Environmental Studies

Catherine Gautier, Geography

Aashish Mehta, Global and International Studies

Veronica Castillo-Munoz, History

Celia Alario, Environmental Studies

Rita Raley, English

Chris Newfield, English

Sharon Farmer, History

Stephanie LeMenager, English

Jeffrey Hoelle, Anthropology

Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi, Sociology

Aranye Fradenburg, English

Leila Rupp, Feminist Studies

Stephanie LeMenager, English

Richard Appelbaum, Global and International Studies

Patricia Clancy, Linguistics

Nancy Gallagher, History

Claudio Fogu, Italian

ann-elise Lewallen, East Asian Languages

Eileen Boris, Feminist Studies

Maria Charles, Sociology

Howard Winant, Sociology

Bruce Bimber, Political Science

Celia Alario, Environmental Studies

Barbara Harthorn, Feminist Studies Arturo Keller, BREN School

Catherine Nesci, French

Ralph Armbruster-Sandoval, Chicano Studies

Bodo Bookhagen, Geography Julie Carlson, English

Mary Hancock, Anthropology

Mayfair Yang, Religious Studies

Diane Fujino, Asian-American Studies

Tim Cooley, Music

Grace Chang, Feminist Studies

Roberto Strongman, Black Studies

Kum-Kum Bhavnani, Sociology