FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

100DaysofActionDALHOUSIE STUDENTS LAUNCH ‘100 DAYS OF ACTION’ FOR FOSSIL FUEL DIVESTMENT

Expect university to divest in late November

HALIFAX – Student group ‘Divest Dalhousie’ is launching ‘100 Days of Action’ to pressure the university to divest its endowment from fossil fuel companies.

This announcement comes one year after Dr. Richard Florizone, then incoming president of Dalhousie, began his campus engagement initiative called ‘100 Days of Listening’ aimed at better understanding the concerns of students, faculty, and staff.

“Several members of the Divest Dal campaign team were at the first student meeting with Dr. Florizone during his inaugural 100 days. During that time many students voiced their concern about Dalhousie’s investments in companies responsible for contributing to climate change,” says Rob MacNeish, Dalhousie College of Sustainability alumni. “That concern was reflected clearly in the ‘100 Days of Listening’ report”.

Divest Dalhousie continues to build support for fossil fuel divestment both on and off campus. The campaign has been endorsed by professors from many different faculties at Dalhousie, as well as the likes of Dr. David Suzuki, Silver Donald Cameron, and . Divest Dalhousie is becoming a household name on campus, and has begun working with students at King’s College and Saint Mary’s University who have recently launched similar campaigns.

In June Dalhousie’s board of governors’ investment committee announced to a work plan to look at the specifics of fossil fuel divestment, based on research conducted and presented by Divest Dal. The investment committee has stated that it will present a final report in November, as outlined in the work plan, with their recommendation about whether or not the university should divest from fossil fuels.

“The divestment movement is seeing more and more successes, and it’s inspiring our group to put more pressure on our administration. We have been doing an incredible amount of research and we have been trying to work closely with the administration to ensure progress is made,” says Liv Bochenek, a current student in the College of Sustainability.  “We’ve said before that Divest Dalhousie will be pushing for a decision to be made in November. That’s why we’ll be taking ‘100 Days of Action’ – by continuing to engage with the board through the next few months we think we can get commitment to divestment in November.”

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Divest Dalhousie is a collective of students, alumni and concerned community members campaigning for Dalhousie University’s to divest its $470 million endowment from the worlds top 200 fossil fuel companies. For more information go to our website: http://divestdal.ca

OR follow us on Twitter: @divestdal

Media contact:

Evelien Vanderkloet
[email protected]
902-456-9711

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