Environmental Groups to Protest Board of Trustees Meeting
The Board of Trustees is visiting St. Lawrence this weekend, and there’s a group of students who are ready to meet them. Today, February 23, members of DivestSLU, Environmental Action Organization (EAO), and other environmental groups will be carrying signs, waving flags, and chanting in protest in the Student Center from 5-6 p.m.
Nick Filannino ’19 is one of four co-presidents of EAO and a main organizer of the event. He says the protest aims to show the groups’ support for sustainability and to ask the school once more to diversify their investment portfolio with more environmentally sound investments.
DivestSLU has been petitioning the Board of Trustees to divest the school’s endowment from fossil fuel holding companies for several years, but the board has thus far rejected their proposals. Student Delegate to the Board of Trustees Chris Rich ’18 says that while he hasn’t yet discussed the issue with the trustees, “The board generally has a growth-focused model for the endowment, and they likely did not feel that divestment was feasible at this time due to the University’s financial needs and goals.”
Rich adds that he has devoted a significant part of his report to the Board of Trustees to environmental concerns among the student body. “I support students in their effort to get their concerns heard,” he says. “Hopefully this meeting can be the beginning of a longer, more robust discussion of environmental issues here on campus.”
The Board of Trustees is on campus from Thursday, February 22 to Sunday, February 25. They will be meeting with different groups, including the Thelmo executive board, and discussing various other campus affairs. Rich says he also plans to bring up issues like tuition and inclusivity on campus.
The Board of Trustees also has to consider St. Lawrence’s widening budget gap in its future plans. Filannino acknowledges that this makes his group’s goals a harder sell. Regardless, he says, they want to make sure the administration knows that they still care and won’t be deterred by previous rejections.
The groups hope to regularize this type of activism on campus by holding monthly protests. “Get out there and be the change you want to see in this establishment,” Filannino exhorts, “because nobody is going to do it for you!”
While these students are passionate about seeing action from the administration, what they’re really hoping for with this protest is a dialogue and recognition of the fact that the divest movement is not dead. “We want to be loud and proud to wave our green flags for the trustees, but of course with respect,” says Filannino.