{"id":111506,"date":"2020-03-10T12:30:40","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T16:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=111506"},"modified":"2020-03-10T12:30:40","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T16:30:40","slug":"sunrise-movement-hamilton-college-rally-challenges-board-of-trustees-to-address-climate-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=111506","title":{"rendered":"Sunrise Movement Hamilton College rally challenges board of trustees to address climate crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, March 6, 2020, Sunrise Movement Hamilton College\nhosted a rally outside the college\u2019s administration building, Buttrick Hall, to\ndemand that the college take action against the climate crisis. About 50\nstudents attended the rally. Demands included divesting the college\u2019s endowment\nfrom fossil fuels, reinvesting that same amount of money into renewable energy,\nrecusal of members of the board of trustees with vested interests in fossil\nfuels from divestment discussions, the publication of a whitepaper explaining\nthe rationale behind not divesting at this time, a policy of consultation\nbetween the college and the Oneida Nation when making decisions regarding the\ncollege\u2019s environmental impacts and the declaration of a climate emergency by\nthe college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rally was aimed at the board of trustees which was on\ncampus for its quarterly meeting. The board and college President David Wippman\nwere invited to attend the rally, with the stipulation that they would only be\nallowed to speak if they were going to announce a change in policy relating to\nthe list of the demands that the students put out. Wippman attended but did not\nmake any official announcements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With emcee Emily Fienco, Hamilton College class of 2023, the\nrally started with an acknowledgement that Hamilton is on the land of the\nOneida people and a set of ground rules for behavior at the rally. The first\nspeech was by Sarah Gyurina, class of 2022, who talked about the precedent\nof student activism on campus, particularly talking about the movement to\ndivest from Apartheid South Africa in the 1980s. This movement led to hundreds\nof students consistently protesting, 20 students getting suspended for acts of\ncivil disobedience, a lawsuit to overturn these suspensions and, ultimately,\nthe resignation of then-President Martin Carovano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strategy of building a movement to fight the climate\ncrisis was a focus in Gyurina\u2019s speech as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Georgetown can divest, if Middlebury can divest, if\nHamilton College can divest, then every single college in this nation can\ndivest,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Malik Irish, class of\n2022, Posse Boston Scholar and member of the Black and Latinx Student Union,\nspoke about the lack of transparency in college decisions across issues. He\nargued that Hamilton’s decision to not release public statements about student\ndemands mirrored resistance to release a public statement about the elimination\nof Posse Boston, a scholarship program for student leaders that predominantly\nincluded black, indigenous and students of color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student Assembly President Tommy Keith, class of 2022, spoke\nof the need for trustees to listen to student demands and encouraged students\nto also take action into their own hands in their daily lives by being more\nenvironmentally conscious consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest of the rally consisted of chants such as \u201cWho\u2019s\ncampus? Our campus!\u201d and songs that asked the board of trustees, \u201cWhich side\nare you on?\u201d In the middle of the event, there was an open mic section where\nattendees were allowed to take the megaphone and speak their minds. Attendees\nmade statements that called for more transparency in how the college makes\ndecisions, increased respect from the administration for student demands and an\ninvigoration of campus activism at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunrise Movement Hamilton College intends to continue its fight\nfor their demands soon, including on Earth Day and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunrise Movement is fighting for good jobs and a livable\nfuture for our generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Join us in fighting the corrupting power of fossil fuel\nexecutives and building a Green New Deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instagram<\/a> – Facebook<\/a> – Twitter<\/a> – Website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday, March 6, 2020, Sunrise Movement Hamilton College hosted a rally outside the college\u2019s administration building, Buttrick Hall, to demand that the college take action against the climate crisis. About 50 students attended the rally. Demands included divesting the college\u2019s endowment from fossil fuels, reinvesting that same amount of money into renewable energy, recusal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23813,23810,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-wellbeing","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/111507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}