Tcu hears new fossil fuel divestment abstract, responds to recent protests

by Matthew Sage News Editor

The Tufts Community Union Senate held a weekly meeting on Feb. 26, hearing an abstract calling on the university to fully divest from fossil fuels and achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. During the meeting, roughly 20 students gathered in the Joyce Cummings Center atrium outside the meeting room holding posters with phrases such as “protect the right to protest.”

The protesters said the event was not organized by a specific student organization. After standing outside the senate room for about 20 minutes, the crowd dispersed. The TCU Senate Executive Board released an official statement via Instagram early the next morning addressing both the protest outside the TCU meeting and the Feb. 21 protest which disrupted an IsraelPalestine discussion.

“We strongly support the right to protest,” the statement read. “We also believe that protests can create effective change. We’re committed to supporting our community’s right to protest to promote social justice both on our campus and beyond.”

The board reaffirmed the Senate’s commitment to creating “a respectful culture where all student organizations can hold events that align with their missions.”

During the meeting, the Senate heard a new abstract by Tufts Climate Action, called “A Resolution Calling Upon Tufts University to Commit to Institutional Climate Justice.” Tufts currently pledges to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, but the new abstract calls on Tufts to bring the deadline forward 20 years and “establish a plan that entails accountability for benchmark accomplishments.”

The Senate introduced two full-text resolutions calling on the university to create a Southwest Asia and North Africa space on campus and to divulge the costs of courses on SIS enrollment pages.