You need to know what Divest Tulane is

People see it but don’t know what it is

While there are a lot of movements going on at all times on Tulane’s campus, one growing movement is Divest Tulane. But, it’s not popularly known throughout campus.

You may see them tabling in front of the LBC as you casually pass by them, curious about them, but not curious enough to stop and hear what they had to say. But avoid them or not, they are getting bigger and larger and don’t show any signs of going away until their demands are met.

Divest Tulane is an ever-growing presence on Tulane’s campus that everyone should know about and take into consideration. A movement started four years ago by several students in the name of getting Tulane to divest the money it has invested in the fossil fuel industry from its $1.4 billion endowment.

Divest Tulane is a branch of the international divestment movement coordinated by 350.org. Students on campus work hard to fight and lobby the board, taking action while also trying to raise student awareness about the issue. Their goal is to try and rally student support for divestment, so much so, the board of trustees has no choice but to divest from fossil fuels.

Divest Tulane’s sit in to protest Tulane’s investment in the fossil fuel industry

In the past they have done sit-ins and rallies, this semester they are focused on student overall awareness. Come March, Tulane students will be asked to vote on whether they support Divestment, the first time the school has taken a survey on the issue since the spring of 2014. With the result of that survey being 58% of Tulane students supported divestment, Divest Tulane hopes to greatly increase that number come March this year.

Additionally, Divest Tulane hopes to tie in with community leaders outside of Tulane to put pressure on the school and the board due to the fact that Tulane sees itself as such a pillar of the New Orleans community.

Divest Tulane marches to raise awareness about climate change

Divest Tulane is currently in the works of publishing a reinvestment plan for Tulane which they hope will show the benefits of divesting from the fossil fuel industry and reinvesting in renewable energy.

Noa Elliot, a sophomore deeply involved with the Divest Tulane movement, was quoted with saying, “Often times money speaks louder than words, so we hope that the more students are comfortable with the numbers of it, the more they’ll be able to swallow and get excited about the environmental, health, and other aspects of the campaign that really do make a lot of sense.”

While many schools across the country have chosen to Divest from fossil fuels, Tulane is still one of the few holdouts left. Tulane has historically been behind the times, being late to desegregate as well as being late to divest from South African Apartheid, to quote Noa Elliot again, “It would be cool if Tulane would be on the right side of history for this one.”

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