BOWDOIN CLIMATE ACTION student leaders, from left, Emily Ruby, Jonah Watt, Maya Morduch-Toubman and Isabella McCann lead a press conference. Behind them are “wanted” posters of the school’s trustee members whom they feel are contributing to the college’s delay in fossil fuel divestment.
As students of Bowdoin Climate Action continue to urge the Brunswick college to pursue divestment from fossil fuel companies, some are pointing fingers at members of the board of trustees.
Among those identified were Sheldon Stone, John Studzinski and Stanley Druckenmiller, whose grandfather is the namesake of the science building on campus where BCA leaders led a press conference on Friday.
“It is extremely concerning that the person who endowed our science building would so clearly undermine his commitment to advancing climate and environmental science by investing in such destructive practices,” sophomore Maya Morduch-Toubman said, addressing a crowd of student supporters.
In addition to rows of “wanted” posters that were taped along the hallways, BCA members unveiled enlarged photos of the three members one by one, calling out their “deep ties to the oil and gas industry, which may be impeding them from taking action,” said student Jonah Watt.
A year ago, students had complained when former college president Barry Mills had declared himself a liaison between BCA and the trustees just months before his retirement, resulting in a student sit-in in the spring to engage the trustees and draw attention to the divestment issue.
Since then, there has been “no action from the board” and “while Bowdoin has been silent, the rest of the movement and other administrations have not,” Watt said.
On Friday, the University of Mary Washington in Virginia had unanimously passed a resolution to move forward with a 98 percent divestment in fossil fuels, according to freshman Emily Ruby.
She also commended the students at Harvard University and University of Massachusetts Amherst who recently staged sit-ins for the cause and were arrested.
“Bowdoin stands with you,” student Isabella Mc- Cann said.
While McCann had been excited to join BCA as a prospective student last year, she said she became concerned when she learned about the college’s investment in fossil fuels.
“To learn that 1.4 percent of our endowment is in the fossil fuel industry was disappointing because as someone who was looking up schools, I had envisioned Bowdoin as a climate leader,” she said.
During the press conference, students urged the trustees to “demonstrate to us that your ties to the fossil fuel industry are not holding back meaningful climate action,” and requested that the board add divestment to their agenda for their next meeting.
If the trustees do not respond, McCann said BCA would take “escalatory action,” though she refrained from revealing more when asked.
Bowdoin College spokesman Doug Cook declined to comment on Friday.
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