NYU Students Demand University Divest From Fossil Fuels
November 15, 2021
New York University students and faculty rallied on Friday outside of BlackRock headquarters to demand that the university divest from the fossil fuel industry and private prisons. Protesters marched from Bryant Park to BlackRock’s headquarters in Midtown, gathering outside the entrance with signs. The demonstration marks the latest in the ongoing NYU Divest campaign, which calls upon the NYU administration and the Board of Trustees to divest the university endowment from the fossil fuel industry and transition to 100% renewable energy.
The group calls on Laurence Fink, NYU trustee and the CEO of investment management company BlackRock, to drop the company’s holdings in fossil fuel industries and private prison operators. Outside BlackRock’s headquarters, students and professors delivered impassioned speeches, drawing from their personal experiences with environmental injustice, scientific research, and activism.
“I never thought I would be an activist,” said Professor Sonali McDermid, speaking through a megaphone from atop a concrete ledge, “But then I saw the data. And what the data made clear were the terrible impacts of unmitigated climate change. Larry, I urge you not to ignore your own data. Your own company reports demonstrate that the risks of divestment from fossil fuels are low, and in fact, divestment can actually be good for business. So why haven’t you acted?”
Fink announced in a January 2020 letter that BlackRock would begin to support the “global transition to a net zero economy” by divesting from environmentally harmful industries like thermal coal. However, BlackRock continues to hold $112 million in oil, gas, and coal industries and remains the largest investor in private prison firm CoreCivic in 2021. Protesters harked on this discrepancy, criticizing what they view as performative gestures.
At the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Fink revealed that BlackRock raised $673 million for the Climate Finance Partnership, an infrastructure fund for climate-focused projects, with capital from various governments and institutions. BlackRock itself contributed $20 million, an amount $9.9 million less than Fink’s 2020 pay. At the same time, Fink has encouraged firms to hold onto their polluting assets.For NYU Divest protesters, Fink’s strategy is insufficient for the accelerating rate of climate change, especially as its impacts become more apparent in New York City.
“I don’t want to see my neighbors die in basement apartments because of preventable floods,” said Alicia Colomer, a member of Sunrise Movement, “NYU claims to be anti-racist and pro- climate but the institution that we attend and we pay money to is continuing to fund these catastrophes.”
The demonstration concluded with a statement from Anna Tsumo, a community organizer with Sane Energy Project and the No North Brooklyn Pipeline campaign. She recalled finding out that National Grid, a gas and utility company that BlackRock is the largest shareholder in, was building a fracked gas pipeline next to her mother’s home in Brownsville. Scared for her mother’s health in a neighborhood that already has the highest rates of asthma in Brooklyn, she joined in the community fight against the pipeline. She urged the students attending to get involved in spreading awareness and joining actions like the ongoing gas bill strike.
“Climate change can feel really overwhelming, it can feel huge and abstract,” said Tsumo, “But this is a very direct thing that is happening in our city right now that you can help us fight against.”