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September 08, 2020 7AM
CONTACT
Students and Athletes Representing 30 Universities in the ACC and BIG-10 Call for Divestment From Fossil Fuels and Climate Justice
Students, organizations, and professional athletes who are alumni of the universities in the Atlantic Coast Conference and BIG-10 today released a joint statement calling for divestment from fossil fuels. The letter, along with specific ones sent to each school called for university administrators, trustees, and endowment managers, as well as the leadership of the ACC, BIG-10, and NCAA to take the issue of climate change more seriously.
In anticipation of the start of the ACC football season this Thursday, the groups are calling for an immediate response with serious action taken by the ACC football championship game on December 12. Demands include an immediate freeze on new fossil fuel investments, divestment of direct holdings by 2025, and all fossil fuel investments by 2030 in addition to other calls for greater transparency and involvement of students in governance practices like socially responsible investment committees.
Recent action has been taken by Georgetown University, Oxford University, American University, George Washington University, Cornell University and more. More than half of universities in the United Kingdom have divested and movements are happening in Australia and Canada as well.
“Recognizing the power and influence that sports have in our society as well as the opportunity the pandemic has offered to reimagine sports and better utilize athletes’ and teams’ platforms for good, we know that the ACC can be the conference that leads the way, but it is up to all of our universities to take action,” said Kyle Rosenthal, Boston College ‘21 and member of Climate Justice at Boston College.
Critics may argue that the current confusion and chaos in higher education brought on by the pandemic makes this the wrong time to make such a call, but the links between climate change and the pandemic, and their disproportionate impacts on the marginalized, is exactly why such a call is immediately necessary.
Universities in the ACC and BIG-10 have endowments totalling $58 billion and $62 billion respectively with the conferences themselves and NCAA managing hundreds of millions of dollars of investments as well.
The students making this call engaged with many other students in the College Climate Coalition which includes students representing dozens of other conferences including the entire Ivy League. They expect direct joint calls for the rest of the Power 5 and other conferences to come soon.
The massive amount of money in sports is managed in many places from conferences to endowments to professional leagues and media companies. The call for action today extends to all companies and organizations involved in sports to use their power and money for good through sustainable investments and operations as well as positive athlete and fan engagement.
In this time of injustice, these students are calling for accountability, transparency, and direct action, affirming that climate justice is racial justice.
Read the full joint statement and open letter to university and conference leaders.
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ACC Climate Justice Coalition
Following the success of the Nobody Wins action by students from Harvard and Yale and the joint resolution from the BIG-10 student governments calling for divestment, students from every ACC university came together, recognizing the power and influence of sports and the similarities in their campaigns, to call for justice from their universities. This joint statement is their first public action and they plan to collaborate more moving forward to push their universities to achieve climate justice through the power and competitive spirit of sports.
College Climate Coalition
The College Climate Coalition is a growing organization of students from over 50 universities dedicated to fighting climate change as a united front. Through coordinated actions and shared resources, the CCC aims to amplify the individual messages of each campus group while working to advance the greater university climate movement by calling for fossil fuel divestment and commitment to environmental justice. The CCC includes all of the groups in the ACC Climate Justice Coalition, the BIG-10 universities, the entire Ivy League, and more. Contact: collegeclimatecoalition@gmail.com
**Of note, today a joint call will also be made by students at dozens of Canadian universities: www.divestcanada.ca. Their media contact: divestcanada@gmail.com