May, 01 2014, 09:14am EDT
Harvard Undergraduate Arrested As Students Blockade the President's Office Calling for An Open Dialogue on Fossil Fuel Divestment
Harvard junior Brett Roche was arrested early Thursday morning while participating in a seven-person blockade of Harvard University President Drew Faust's office. The blockade was an attempt to win an open meeting with Harvard trustees to discuss fossil fuel divestment.
Cambridge, MA
Harvard junior Brett Roche was arrested early Thursday morning while participating in a seven-person blockade of Harvard University President Drew Faust's office. The blockade was an attempt to win an open meeting with Harvard trustees to discuss fossil fuel divestment.
This was the first arrest for the growing fossil fuel divestment movement, which has spread to over 500 campuses, cities, and religious institutions across the globe.
"The administration of Harvard University would rather arrest their own students and have police force us out of the way than speak to us civilly about this important issue," said Ted Hamilton, a first-year student at Harvard Law School who risked arrest in the blockade. Student have repeatedly requested a public meeting with President Faust and trustees about divestment, but they have refused thus far.
Six students began blockading the main entrance to President Faust's office on Wednesday morning, forcing high-level administrators to enter through side doors. On Thursday morning the students, joined by Harvard alumnus Bob Massie and Harvard's Quaker chaplain John Bach, moved to block all entrances to the building, prompting the arrest.
"Today I want to thank Divest Harvard for giving me the chance to be the person who I purport to be--a person who gives a damn," said John Bach, Quaker chaplain at Harvard's Memorial Church.
While the other blockaders were not arrested, the Harvard College Dean of Student Life Stephen Lassonde warned students on Wednesday that they will face disciplinary action from the administration.
Over 50,000 people have signed online petitions supporting Harvard students. Tomorrow, Divest Harvard and student, faculty and alumni supporters will deliver the petition signatures to the administration at 12:00pm at Massachusetts Hall in Harvard Yard.
For two years, students, faculty, and alumni with the Divest Harvard campaign have been calling on administrators to divest Harvard's $31 billion endowment from the top 200 fossil fuel companies. Over 100 faculty recently sent a letter to President Drew Faust urging her to support divestment.
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
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Critics Blast 'Reckless and Impossible' Bid to Start Operating Mountain Valley Pipeline
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Environmental defenders on Tuesday ripped the company behind the Mountain Valley Pipeline for asking the federal government—on Earth Day—for permission to start sending methane gas through the 303-mile conduit despite a worsening climate emergency caused largely by burning fossil fuels.
Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC sent a letter Monday to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Acting Secretary Debbie-Anne Reese seeking final permission to begin operation on the MVP next month, even while acknowledging that much of the Virginia portion of the pipeline route remains unfinished and developers have yet to fully comply with safety requirements.
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Appalachian Voices noted that MVP's request comes days before pipeline developer Equitrans Midstream is set to release its 2024 first-quarter earnings information on April 30.
MVP is set to traverse much of Virginia and West Virginia, with the Southgate extension running into North Carolina. Outgoing U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and other pipeline proponents fought to include expedited construction of the project in the debt ceiling deal negotiated between President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans last year.
On Monday, climate and environmental defenders also petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, challenging FERC's approval of the MVP's planned Southgate extension, contending that the project is so different from original plans that the government's previous assent is now irrelevant.
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U.S. workers' rights advocates and groups celebrated on Tuesday after the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 along party lines to approve a ban on most noncompete clauses, which Democratic FTC Chair Lina Khansaid "keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism."
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