On Feb. 12, DivestDU kicked off the divestment movement at DU for this school year. The event, a photo petition, took place on Driscoll Bridge. Students could express themselves by writing on a card and taking a picture with it.

DivestDU works to get DU to divest from fossil fuels. According to DivestDU’s Fossil Free petition website, “It is unethical for our university to invest in companies that will condemn the planet to climate disaster, we call on the University of Denver to immediately freeze any new investment in fossil-fuel companies, and to divest within five years from direct ownership and from any commingled funds that include fossil-fuel public equities and corporate bonds.”

“I work with other members of a leadership team to strategize and implement actions working toward pressuring the University of Denver to divest from fossil fuels,” said International Studies major Nick Stubler. This includes the involvement of the DU community in emphasizing their campaign messages, as well as networking with other Divest movements across the country.

Stubler says DU’s divestment movement is only a small part of a much larger one taking place across the world.

“DivestDU is simply a branch of this larger movement seeking to pressure DU to join the ranks of other Universities such as Stanford in supporting climate justice through divesting from fossil fuels,” he said. “We believe it is irresponsible and unacceptable for a University with the vision of being a ‘great private institution dedicated to the public good’ [to support this] and believe it is DU’s duty to its students, community and world as a whole to support ethical and responsible investments.”

According to Stubler, 400,000 people came together in New York last September for the people’s climate march. This march encouraged the Rockefeller Fund to divest its $860 million dollars in the fossil fuel industry.

Stubler believes that environmental degradation is the most significant threat facing the 21st century.

“The world requires action on a scale comparable to the civil rights movement if it is to be saved from irreparable destruction,” said Stubler. “We believe that each human being, present and future, has a right to inhabit a sustainable and prosperous Earth, and are dedicated to doing our part in building such a world. However, with this right comes a responsibility to do our part in protecting the world from others’ selfish interests.”

Unfortunately, Stubler believes there is a lot of confusion and ignorance surrounding the divestment movement.

“The corporatized fossil fuel industry continues to spend obscene amounts of money to promulgate this confusion and stimulate uncertainty and disunity amongst the masses,” said Stubler. “It is important for us all to think critically about the issue, analyze our news sources and interests they inevitably serve, and make educated decisions for the sake of ourselves, our community and all living beings.”

DivestDU is still a young organization, and plans to host more events in the future.

“DivestDU began last year and hosted a number of events. However, because many members of DivestDU were abroad in the fall, DivestDU has been working more behind the scenes this year,” said Stubler.

Stubler, along with other organizers said the event was a success, which motivated them to keep moving forward with similar efforts.

“Over 100 students stopped by to learn more about divestment and the movement as well as share their thoughts and hopes for the future of our institution,” said Stubler. “Nearly 70 students took part in the photo petition and over 1,000 students have participated in our digital petition thus far.”

With a successful kick-off event, Stubler is excited to see how future events can only get better.

“We are excited to build on this momentum [from the kick-off event] with larger and more active events in the coming months, and we plan to have continued meetings with Chancellor Chopp as well as pursue additional meetings with the Board of Trustees.”

More information about DivestDU can be found on their Facebook page (Divest University of Denver).