Students call on Uni to drop investments in fossil fuels
STUDENT activists have launched a campaign demanding Loughborough University drops all investments in fossil fuel companies.
Members of the Loughborough People and Planet group decorated a courtyard on the university campus with chalk messages and targeted Lynn Chadwick’s ‘The Watchers’ sculptures in the square, hanging placards in bright orange around their necks.
The placards had messages on them such as: “Divest now, no more complicity in climate catastrophe” and “The Watchers are watching you...and so are we.”
The action coincided with the release of an open letter to vice chancellor Prof Robert Allison.
A group spokesperson said: “The aims of this campaign are simple, Loughborough University must drop all current investments in fossil fuel companies, and adopt a Fossil Free investment policy like the 54 other universities in the UK that have committed to divest.
“All we are asking is that the university practices what it preaches, and takes action to address the role it plays in climate change and the environmental disasters affecting people all over the world.”
They continued: “Previous campaigns have been timid. We’re here, we’re loud, and we want Loughborough Uni to be fossil free. If it’s wrong to wreck the climate, it’s wrong to profit from the wreck- age, and there is no excuse for an academic institution’s fees funding fossil fuels.”
The Echo contacted Loughborough University and a spokesperson said: “We recognise our obligations to minimise the university’s impact on the environment.
“Sustainability is embedded throughout our operations and developments and we undertake pioneering renewable energy research.
“We invest our funds in a manner that balances returns against ethical concerns and as such do not invest in the defence or tobacco industries. Any fossil fuel investments are part of a managed fund and we have no plans to change this at this time.”