On Thursday, Feb. 2 at 12 p.m. over 350 students took action across the University of California (UC) campuses to voice their opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline and demand that the university system divest from fossil fuels. Students called out the UC’s investment in the two companies building the pipeline and demanded that Regent Sherman, Chair of the Investment Subcommittee, lead the UC in full divestment from fossil fuels, for Indigenous people and the planet.
“Water protectors are peacefully defending Mother Earth while the fossil fuel industry pushes for this pipeline, despite its ability to burst and cause irreparable damage. The human rights violations against water protectors taking place at the Oceti Sakowin Camp are unconscionable” says Christina Acosta, first year PhD student at UC Merced.
Students oppose UC system’s investments in the Dakota Access Pipeline and call for the UC to lead in full divestment from fossil fuels.
The action comes on just a day after the Army Corps of Engineers was directed to expedite its review of the easement request for the Dakota Access Pipeline, by the acting secretary of the Army, after President Donald Trump’s executive action concerning the pipeline over a week ago. With the approval process of the pipeline newly expedited, and yesterday’s raid and round of arrests at the Last Child Camp nearby the main Oceti Sakowin Camp where water protectors have been peacefully occupying for over a year, students are urgently demanding the UC stand with students and against the companies behind the pipeline and the rest of the fossil fuel industry.
“We, the students of the University of California do not support the Dakota Access Pipeline that will poison the life source of hundreds of thousands of beings. Regent Sherman must divest from his investments in the destruction of indigenous land and the environment, and students are prepared to do whatever is necessary to push Regent Sherman to divest from the companies behind DAPL and the fossil fuel industry that pushes for these kinds of projects” says Burgundy Gregg Fletcher, at fifth year student at UC San Diego.
The coordinated actions were organized by members of North American Indian student groups and Fossil Free UC. The UC currently has over two billion dollars invested in fossil fuels and more than three million dollars invested in companies behind DAPL. Thursday’s action comes after years of campaigning against the UC’s involvement with fossil fuels and months of protest against DAPL. The organizers and participants are hopeful that this joint action will spark change on both a national and university level.