Temple Student Group Petitions for Cleaner Energy
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WRITTEN BY: Alana Beltran
Members of the Temple Climate Action Coalition are petitioning for Temple University to divest from using fossil fuels.
Two of the group’s members, Olivia Chapman, a 19-year-old Environmental Studies major, and Kiana Bozorgnia, a 19-year-old Environmental Engineering major, say that they have been advocating for change for about six months. The group is not affiliated with Temple University.
The coalition believes that if Temple moves their money out of fossil fuels and starts to use cleaner energy, it would be a better financial decision for the school and have a long-lasting impact on the university.
The group’s ultimate goal is to bring the issue to the Board of Trustees. They are planning to send a letter to the board but they would like to ensure they have enough support to back their claims and receive recognition from the long-standing committee.
The petition was an attempt to spread the word on this issue, as well as an informative on how the growing student body and other organizations can get involved by putting pressure on the issue at hand. The club is looking for about 3,500 signatures by the time they talk to the Board of Trustees. With a substantial amount of student interest, the Board of Trustees is more likely to take action on this issue pressing the campus.
Chapman emphasized that students can get involved by “signing the petition, having numbers to back claims, people can also join the club, and spreading the word around would be great.”
Bozorgnia added that “just generally so that the board and Temple know that this is a cause that students care about and something that students are talking about. Anything to get the word out like that is great.”
If the board approves this, Temple will join over 1,508 institutions like Harvard, Yale, Rutgers, and Syracuse that have divested from fossil fuels.
