Four years ago, students at the University of North Carolina -Chapel Hill helped pioneer campus coal work for the nation and today the Beyond Coal group continues that leadership pushing for coal divestment.
After 2 years of student pressure surrounding divestment, the UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees Finance & Infrastructure committee agreed to meet with students from UNC Beyond Coal Wednesday to discuss moving the University’s endowment holdings out of the coal industry and into clean energy.
Since 2011, when the Board voted to phase out UNC’s on-campus coal plant, students have been calling on the University to remove university endowment holdings from the coal industry. Last year, 77% of the UNC student body voted in support of coal divestment, and to date over 3,000 individual students have signed petitions in support.
Ahead of the meeting, the students organized a rally of over 40 people on the steps of their Library before the Board meeting, featuring student speakers and Mark Chilton, Mayor of Carrboro who spoke about the importance of divestment.
Inside the meeting, what was supposed to only be a 15minute time slot turned into a 35 minute presentation and discussion between the Board, the Chancellor and the students surrounding the feasibility of divestment at UNC.
While the Committee did not agree in the meeting to create a working group on divestment ahead of the full Board meeting in November, the Chair of the Finance and Infrastructure committee did say the Board is committed to not tabling this issue and continuing the discussion. The Committee began immediately debating internally when this working group could become a reality.
Wednesday’s response by the Board is testament to the Administration’s shift in attitude from past years due to student organizing.
It reminded me of my friend Jenny Marineau’s recent blog. It’s confusing to hear placating words from Administrations, it’s frustrating to experience stall tactics, and it can be infuriating or even disempowering to hear “No.” But students at UNC and so many other schools are forcing their Administrators’ hands.
Jasmine Ruddy of UNC Beyond Coal, aptly stated, “This movement is happening whether UNC wants it or not. The question is not if, but when do we want to be a leader..” Each time any campaign re-adapts its strategy, as in the case of UNC this year, we mature not only as individuals but as a movement, we improve our fight, and we improve our odds that next time it will be a Yes.
From here, UNC Beyond Coal plans to continue to push the committee to form a working group immediately and bring divestment up for a vote with the full Board at the January in person board meeting.