Above photo: By Kelsey Erickson.
CAMBRIDGE – Hundreds of Harvard students, alumni and faculty participated in a week-long sit-in within the gaze of John Harvard’s statue to call on their university to divest from the fossil fuel industry. They maintained a blockade of Massachusetts Hall as a peaceful means of opening dialogue with President Faust. Many of the students set up camp to guard all three entrances to the building overnight.
The student-run fossil fuel divestment campaign known as Divest Harvard has been ongoing for three years and is one of hundreds of divestment campaigns around the country that have been launched by colleges and universities, churches and even cities. Just last week, Syracuse University committed to divestment in the company of many other institutions have including the First Parish in Cambridge that is directly across the street from Massachusetts Hall.
Divest Harvard has received overwhelming support from students, alumni and faculty, including Tim DeChristopher, Bill McKibben, Naomi Oreskes and Cornel West. Each day had a theme to include people from a wide range of groups. Every day began with an opening rally in the morning and concluded with a civil disobedience training in the evening for people willing to risk arrest.
On Monday, Harvard alums blockaded the alumni office and on Thursday, Harvard students blockaded University Hall while upholding the blockade of Massachusetts Hall. At the end of students day, hundreds of students and supporters encircled University Hall holding hands in a profound display of unity.
On the final day of Heat Week, Cornel West delivered a riveting speech calling on Harvard to stand on the right side of history to address the issue of a “planetary Selma” that is responsible for the climate crisis. “We are calling on Harvard to divest because we see arbitrary power deployed by major institutions that are going to lead toward the destruction of the planet.”
This arbitrary power has rightly been challenged by Harvard’s students. Harvard has been revered worldwide as a beacon of knowledge and any action they take or fail to take has implications for the future of our world. If Harvard divests, it could vilify the fossil fuel industry enough to spur a long overdue transition to renewable energy.
