Last Friday, March 3, students around the world organized 436 protests in line with the Fridays for Future Event. Started by Greta Thunberg in 2018, the protests have since drawn millions of young people from over 150 countries to call on institutions to take urgent action to stop the climate crisis. 

The global theme of the Fridays for Future event was climate finance. This aligned perfectly with Divest DU’s mission of pressuring DU’s Board of Trustees to divest the $24 million they currently commit to fossil fuel holdings.

Divest president Claire Steffek, incoming president Allie Corradino, and officers Iris Stanfill and Sidney Barbier rallied Friday’s crowd with speeches addressing systematic environmental racism, the importance of targeting fossil finance and the power that DU students have to demand that admin decisions reflect student values.

“Every dollar used for fossil fuels is a dollar stained with blood,” Stanfill declared to cheers from the crowd.

After the speeches, the Divest team led students in sign-making, letter-writing to the Chancellor and games of volleyball and frisbee on the Campus Green.

Looking forward, Divest hopes to boost student engagement. Club officers pointed out that many students are unaware of the amount of money DU still has invested in fossil fuels. 

“The university is obviously trying to not make this public … we are supposed to be a sustainable school, we have this carbon neutrality goal, yet here we are investing $24 million in the fossil fuel industry,” Stanfill said.

Steffek pointed out the importance of targeting prospective students by holding rallies and protests on admitted students days and around campus tours. Some of DU’s big selling points to potential students are “green” initiatives, such as compost, the 2030 carbon-neutrality plan and the Center for Sustainability.

“If I knew at the time that they had $24 million invested in fossil fuels, I wouldn’t have bought that,” Steffek said, referring to DU’s efforts to portray the university as a leader in sustainability despite their ongoing involvement with fossil finance.

Divest DU is also looking to continue to collaborate with other student groups such as Native Student Alliance and the Guerilla Arts Society, as well as continuing to work with the Center for Sustainability.

One of the biggest issues Divest has faced has been a lack of dialogue with the Board of Trustees, which has previously refused to consider the divestment. Apart from sporadic meetings with the Chancellor, Divest hasn’t been able to connect with the board to hear their reasons for refusing to divest. Due to DU’s private university status, Divest also doesn’t have access to the key financial information that would be available at public universities.

“At the end of the day, students are what the university is about, so students should be able to have a voice here … we’ve learned that we don’t,” Steffek said.

Despite the Board’s lack of transparency, Divest is not intimidated. After a blitz of rallies last spring, the organization successfully pressured the administration to release a current investment report and to facilitate a meeting between Divest DU and Chancellor Jeremy Haefner. 

In addition to giving Divest DU legitimacy, this showed the club that there is real power and potential in uniting students to hold the administration accountable. Divest plans to capitalize on that power to continue to pressure the administration until DU fully divests from fossil fuels.

To learn more or become a part of Divest DU, follow them on Instagram at @divest_du or on Crimson Connect here. You can also attend their weekly meetings on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in AAC 290.