One Year After Coal Divestment, the Stanford Community Demands Further Action
More than 130 students, faculty, and alumni attend rally for divestment from tar sands, oil, and gas
May 6, 2025
STANFORD, CA — One year ago today, Stanford University committed to divest its now $21.4 billion endowment from the coal industry. To celebrate this anniversary, the Stanford community rallied outside their president’s office to demand divestment from oil and gas.
To date, Stanford’s endowment is the largest university fund to divest from coal—a step that has been applauded by fossil fuel divestment campaigns worldwide. Still, the Fossil Free Stanford campaign contends that true climate leadership demands ridding the endowment of all fossil fuel investments.
“In the past year, the world has seen its first official climate refugees. California is still ravaged by worsening drought,” said student campaigner Shane Johnson. “By continuing to invest in oil and gas, Stanford maintains its support for this destruction.”
This spring, campus campaigns across the country have been escalating, calling on their administrations to choose a side: that of their students, or that of the fossil fuel industry. Students held sit-ins at schools including Swarthmore, Yale, University of Mary Washington, Tulane, Bowdoin, Harvard, Wesleyan, and Tufts.
“We haven’t had to have a sit-in at Stanford yet, because we are confident that our administration will fully divest by the end of the year,” said student organizer Courtney Pal. “Our rally today showed administrators that the Stanford community is holding them accountable to the urgency of the climate crisis.”
In the year since coal divestment, 375 Stanford faculty published an open letter calling for full fossil fuel divestment, Fossil Free Stanford’s student team has tripled in size, and the number of signatures on their petition is nearing 4,000.
“Climate change hasn’t stopped, and neither has our movement to fight it,” Pal said. A year later, it’s time for Stanford to step up and divest the rest.”
To date, Stanford’s endowment is the largest university fund to divest from coal—a step that has been applauded by fossil fuel divestment campaigns worldwide. Still, the Fossil Free Stanford campaign contends that true climate leadership demands ridding the endowment of all fossil fuel investments.
“In the past year, the world has seen its first official climate refugees. California is still ravaged by worsening drought,” said student campaigner Shane Johnson. “By continuing to invest in oil and gas, Stanford maintains its support for this destruction.”
This spring, campus campaigns across the country have been escalating, calling on their administrations to choose a side: that of their students, or that of the fossil fuel industry. Students held sit-ins at schools including Swarthmore, Yale, University of Mary Washington, Tulane, Bowdoin, Harvard, Wesleyan, and Tufts.
“We haven’t had to have a sit-in at Stanford yet, because we are confident that our administration will fully divest by the end of the year,” said student organizer Courtney Pal. “Our rally today showed administrators that the Stanford community is holding them accountable to the urgency of the climate crisis.”
In the year since coal divestment, 375 Stanford faculty published an open letter calling for full fossil fuel divestment, Fossil Free Stanford’s student team has tripled in size, and the number of signatures on their petition is nearing 4,000.
“Climate change hasn’t stopped, and neither has our movement to fight it,” Pal said. A year later, it’s time for Stanford to step up and divest the rest.”
