Breaking News: UCSB Faculty Senate Votes in Favor of Fossil Fuel Divestment

Thursday, May 30, in an historical move, the UCSB faculty senate voted in favor of fossil fuel divestment; the first in the University of California system to do so. Emily Williams UCSB Fossil Free Coordinator said, “We were just so overwhelmed, it was incredible. You could just feel the happiness and pride of the people I’ve been working with for the last year.” The debate in senate was fiercely fought but the determination, the competence, and the persuasiveness of the Fossil Free divesters won out. UCSB has set a precedent that faculty senates across the UC system, and the nation, can and will follow now. This is the latest in a series of victories for the California-wide divestment movement. Just earlier this week Stanford University’s student government also voted in favor of fossil fuel divestment. As of now seven UC student governments have voted in favor of divestment. The conviction that “if it is wrong to wreck the climate, then it is wrong to profit from that wreckage“ is spreading across the country, and is inspiring thousands of people to do what science urges and morality demands. The Fossil Free Movement has seen great success, exhibited once again with this milestone victory. With science on their side, with financial expertise on their side, and most importantly with morality on their side, the Fossil Free movement is becoming a truly formidable force.  John Foran, a professor at UCSB, stated “[it] was a historic day for the University of California, and for UC Santa Barbara.  On that day we took a big step toward making the way we think about the long-term economic health of the university consistent with its strong commitment toward building a sustainable future, and saw the faculty agree with a far-sighted student call to rein in the obscene power of the fossil fuel industry to continue to destroy the planet, corrupt our political system, and profit at the expense of ensuring an unlivable planet for generations to come.  I hope that this message ripples out far and wide, to colleagues at the other UCs, to academic communities everywhere, and to the global climate justice movement whose goals we support.”