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What is a “first mover”?

An institution willing to make the first move or lead the way in adopting the demands of Fossil Free Research.

In the context of higher education, this could be a whole university or college, but it doesn’t have to be. For instance, it could also be one school, research institute, program or initiative, department, publication or journal, and/or lab group within a broader academic institution.

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How do we identify a potential first mover? A few suggestions…

Look for where you have pre-existing bases of support from members.

See if any of your academics have signed our open letter at fossilfreeresearch.com or other pledges in support of FFR, and/or made any supportive statements. A first mover could have signatories (a) with high positions in their department/group/etc or (b) multiple signatories from that same group (high support #s).
Look to see where a lot of support for divestment exists.

Try reaching out to department heads or other seemingly sympathetic figures to ask how they think about FFR and think their department/university area does.
Look for areas of the university that are open to dialogue OR susceptible to campus opinion and public pressure/organizing (they are or could be worried about their reputation for taking fossil fuel money).

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Case Study: Divestment First Movers

US - Unity College Maine (2012)

Small endowment ($18 million); small private university (1200 students, 100% acceptance rate); followed by small schools with similar profiles Brevard College, CA Institute of the Arts, College of the Atlantic

UK - University of Glasgow (2014)

Followed on heels of growing US divest movement; not one of top fossil fuel $ receiving UK colleges; maybe more progressive; had a robust student divestment campaign

Canada - Laval University (2017)

Followed on the heels of big US/UK divestment movement; not as robust a student campaign; small endowment ($377 million) and not as well-known a university

Takeaways: less well-known schools that are or want to seem progressive with smaller endowments and fewer/no fossil fuel ties often make a good target

*there could be a parallel here in your university with a specific department, etc.*

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Obstacles to Being a FFR First Mover

Significant fossil fuel financial flows
Strong ties to the fossil fuel industry (e.g., administrative/faculty conflicts of interest)
Refusal to divest or take a public stand against the industry
General intransigence/desire not to embrace campus activism

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Pros and Cons of Different Potential First Movers

Target that does or has the option to take fossil fuel money (e.g., University of Cambridge’s Earth Sciences Dept or Harvard Kennedy School’s Environment and Natural Resources Program) → would send a hugely powerful sign and add a lot of credibility to our movement to see an actual or potential fossil fuel money recipient adopt FFR; has much more potential to influence other targets of this kind (this is the main goal for us so it is really worth pushing for if you can; it will likely be harder due to resistance from industry/funded individuals)
Target that does not or never has the option to take fossil fuel money (e.g., GW’s Gender Studies Department or Stanford’s English Department) → can help show there’s support for FFR in academics of disciplines and help diminish the industry’s ability to use university ties to greenwash by showing internal university resistance (this might be easier to get but downside is it doesn’t win credibility the same way with departments taking fossil fuel money or for the movement/in media)

*note: public health schools led the way in banning tobacco money and so may be promising as first movers, especially since a whole school commands attention and; a number of them do take fossil fuel funding, though not typically for any directly climate-related research (see #2)

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Discussion Questions

What seem like good first mover targets at your university? What makes them good first movers? (try to identify the top 2 or 3)
How would you approach moving your top first mover(s)? Are there differences in how you would approach one over another?
Try to lay out a year-long plan for how you would use this approach to successfully get your target to be a first mover by end of Fall 2023. What would enacting this look like specifically for next semester?