We are here because we believe fossil fuel divestment is in line with the values of the Yale community.
New Haven, Connecticut – 19 Yale students were arrested by Yale Police following a day-long sit-in that called for the university to reopen the conversation on fossil fuel divestment. Yale joins Harvard as one of two schools where a fossil fuel divestment action has led to arrest.
48 students peacefully entered Woodbridge Hall, Yale’s main administrative building, at 9 am this morning. Within minutes of their arrival, Yale President Peter Salovey addressed the students, informing them of the administrative channels that exist for students interested in pursuing divestment. Afterward, students provided flowers to the administrative staff and a thank you letter to Salovey. Since then, students have peacefully and quietly sat in the building.
Students held the sit-in to call on the University to reopen the conversation on fossil fuel divestment. The sit-in follows a two year effort by student group Fossil Free Yale to work with the administration to divest the university’s endowment from fossil fuels. During this period, Fossil Free Yale worked through the same administrative channels that Salovey referenced when he addressed students this morning.
In August 2014, Yale refused to divest, announcing instead a series of sustainability initiatives. Fossil Free Yale continued to attempt to work with the administration to achieve divestment, arguing that sustainability is unable to address the social injustices of fossil fuel extraction and burning. The university has not responded to these claims, and Fossil Free Yale held this sit-in to hold Yale decision-makers responsible for open and honest engagement with students.
At 5 pm this evening, Woodbridge Hall closed and Yale police arrested 19 students who refused to leave the building until the administration agreed to continue the conversation on fossil fuel divestment. The arrests, willing and peaceful, followed the university’s failure to respond to students.
“Yale would rather arrest its students than re-engage in the conversation” Fossil Free Yale Project Manager Mitch Barrows reported.
During the arrests, 160 students gathered on Beinecke Plaza. Students told the story of Fossil Free Yale, and Blue Feather Drum Group, a Native American performance group, performed and discussed the links between the fossil fuel industry and marginalized communities. 125 students joined hands and encircled Woodbridge Hall. Together, they chanted, “the students united will never be divided.”
Who We Are
Fossil Free Yale is a group of Yalies organizing for climate justice on Yale’s campus. We are fighting for Yale to divest its $23.9 billion endowment from the fossil fuel industry. We are part of a global student movement to divest universities from fossil fuels, alongside thousands working to divest endowments belonging to governments, places of worship, schools, and private foundations.
