“Hey hey, ho ho

Keystone Pipeline’s got to go

No more gas, no more oil

Keep that carbon in the soil”

On Friday at 3:00 PM, a rally was organized to protest the University of Oregon’s investment in fossil fuels. With petitions to sign and posters to hold, the group got together to make their grievances clear to the administration of the university. As I approached the tent, I was handed a pen to sign the prepared petitions and a sheet with lyrics to the chants and songs that were to be sung. The chants contain lines like “every time you pump a barrel, you increase our climate peril” and “corporate greed- we’ve got to fight, polluting Earth is not a right” to convey their displeasure with where the university invests millions of dollars. The aim of divestment is to re-budget the university’s priorities from dangerous fossil fuels to other places more in line with students’ interest.

This rally reminded me of the GTF strike that occurred at the end of last term and into the beginning of this term. Both causes used Johnson Hall as a location to congregate, and both used signs, chanting, and student involvement to get their point across to the administration. While the GTF strike was more widely known, the small group that attended this rally was passionate about the divestment and used this event to teach others about the grim budgeting situation.

Katherine Wylie