AMHERST — With leaders of the University of Massachusetts Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign not satisfied that their demands have been met, a sit-in at a campus administration building and other on-campus protests will continue.
“Four years after first launching our demand, over 120 members of the UMass community are sitting in to call on our university to divest fully from the top 200 publicly-traded fossil fuel companies,” sophomore Mica Reel, spokeswoman for the campaign, said in a statement issued Wednesday morning, hours after 15 students were arrested for refusing to leave the Whitmore Administration Building Tuesday night.
“The first 15 students were just arrested. They’ve proposed dialogue but what we want is action,” Reel said.
The divestment protesters spent five hours negotiating with administration after the second day of an escalatory sit-in to demand that UMass President Martin Meehan and Board of Trustees Chairman Victor Woolridge publicly commit to full fossil-fuel divestment.
The sit-in, which began with 20 students early Monday morning, had more than 125 students, faculty, alumni and community members by Tuesday evening.
Other campuses across the nation are also focused on pushing for divestment, according to the leaders of the UMass divestment push.
“Students are taking action across the country,” said Filipe de Carvalho, in a statement. “We’re calling on Chairman Woolridge and President Meehan to lead with us and stand on the right side of history by being the first public institution to commit fully to fossil fuel divestment.”