Letter to the Editor

Students should attend ‘Up for Climate Justice’ Thursday event

Tonight, three student groups are hosting “Up For Climate Justice” in Eggers 010.

Students, faculty members and community organizations are coming together to draw attention to the growing problem of climate change.

The event kicks off at 6 p.m. with representatives from Divest SU and ESF, Democracy Matters and Students of Sustainability.  Community organization representatives will speak at 7 p.m., including Jessica Maxwell from the Alliance for Green Economy and Kyle Thomas from Citizens Climate Lobby.

Participating Syracuse University professors and administrators include: Karin Ruhlandt, Sarah Pralle, Pete Wilcoxen, Rachel May, Allan Mazur, Doug Frank and Paul Hagenloh  —in that order starting at 8:30 p.m., with music at midnight and food throughout the event.

Bands include Palm Full and Ethan & Max. This event will spread awareness about climate change as well as local sustainability movements.



Currently, the fossil fuel divestment movement is the largest campaign to fight climate change in U.S. history, with 496 colleges, universities, local governments and religious institutions across the country participating.

Building from a Student Association resolution in support of fossil fuel divestment in 2013, SU student groups recently delivered a formal request for fossil fuel divestment to the university administration and Board of Trustees.

SU is a leader in sustainability and was an early signatory of the president’s climate commitment, which sets 2040 as the deadline for carbon neutrality on campus. The divestment efforts seek to extend SU’s environmental commitments into the university’s endowment, ending support for the top 200 fossil fuel companies.

For a safe climate, the science is clear: we can only burn less than one-fifth of current fossil fuel reserves. The divestment campaign is building momentum to make the social and political changes necessary for a transition to sustainable energy, and SU has the opportunity to be a catalyst in that movement by divesting. Come tonight to show your support for divestment or to learn more about climate change in general.

Diane Williamson

SU Professor 

Ben Kuebrich

Ph.D student in Composition and Cultural Rhetoric





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