Swarthmore College students stir debate on climate change
Student activism at Swarthmore College will be featured this week on MTV's university network.
Swarthmore College students stir debate on climate change
Susan Snyder
Student activism at Swarthmore College will be featured this week on MTV’s university network.
The college last weekend hosted about 200 student activists from more than 70 schools, who were there to discuss how they could urge their campuses to sell off holdings in fossil fuel companies as a way to stave off climate change. mtvU - MTV's 24-hour college network available to nine million college students on 750 campuses - decided to feature Swarthmore because it helped inspire the divestment movement at campuses around the country, an MTV spokesman said. The movement started two years ago and now includes more than 300 schools.
The weekend event was covered by Swarthmore’s Daily Gazette. Students met with members of Swarthmore’s board of managers, according to the newspaper, and were not thrilled with the reaction.
“I don’t think the Board has much belief that divestment of fossil fuel companies is an effective way to achieve the goals that we all share,” Board of Managers Chair Giles “Gil” Kemp told The Daily Gazette. However, on the issue of global warming, he said, “I think we are committed as a Board to doing more.”
mtvU’s piece on Swarthmore will begin airing on Wednesday and repeat over the course of the week. It’s part of the network’s "Campus Dispatch" series, which features student journalists reporting on important issues on college campuses.
To learn more about it, check out: http://www.mtvu.com/shows/campus-dispatch
