The University of Massachusetts sent a clear message to climate activists Wednesday night by sending in the police, after refusing to meet their demands to divest further from fossil fuels.
The arrests came during the third night of a staged sit-in to demand that the university fully divest its assets from oil and natural gas and reinvest those dollars in clean energy to help cut greenhouse gas emissions and slow the Earth’s temperature from rising.
The university had taken steps to divest itself from direct investments in coal companies last year, but the activists say that’s not enough. They want them to go further and relinquish all assets connected to all fossil energy companies and redirect that money to renewables. They also want the decision applied to all five branches of the university beyond the main one in Amherst.
The University of Massachusetts Divestment Campaign said resident Martin Meehan and Board of Trustees Chairman Victor Woolridge had 19 students arrested “rather than meet the demands of the campus community to publicly commit to creating a plan for full fossil fuel divestment by June 1st.”
The UMass activists used the arrests to show support for the divestment movement, with a similar sit-in happening at Harvard University. But so far all they have to show for it is arrests. Student arrests at UMass stand at 34, in addition to four students arrested at Harvard on Tuesday. The UMass occupation of a campus administration building is the largest, with 250 students refusing to leave the building until their demands are met.
The UMass student activists say the “historic sit-in” is part of a national month of action that is occurring within the broader “fossil fuel divestment movement” spurred on by national environmental groups such as 350.org and others.
Reports from Amherst said 19 student protesters were arrested after they refused to leave the Whitmore Administration Building. Police say 15 students were arrested on Tuesday.
