375 Stanford Students Demanding Fossil Fuel Divestment Refused Entrance to Administrative Building
November 16, 2025
Contact: Michael Peñuelas, Fossil Free Stanford // +1-206-218-4345 // [email protected]
Palo Alto, CA -- At 1:00 p.m. today, 100 students at Stanford University attempted to enter President John Hennessey’s office to begin a sit in demanding full divestment from the fossil fuel industry. The administration refused them entrance to the building.
PHOTO LINK 1: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cqjkf96jz8a2en3/AABufYohiUBey1NiKz8mlbRTa?dl=0
PHOTO LINK 2: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uwpbkg8pop8obx6/AAAoAcKPKRBSQhhA6hCM0kk0a?dl=0
275 other students joined them for the largest rally in Fossil Free Stanford’s history. Students immediately launched a blockade surrounding the outside of the building, and currently have no plans to leave. The campaign’s escalation follows a pledge signed by students to take direct action if the administration made no move this quarter to divest Stanford’s endowment from oil and gas in addition to coal.
“We refuse to let Stanford stand idly by and continue to remain invested in the companies perpetuating the climate crisis. We are bringing divestment to our administration’s front door, because the Board must make a decision: does Stanford stand with the fossil fuel industry or for climate justice? Right now Stanford is financing companies that are wrecking our planet, which disproportionality harms communities of color, low-income people, and indigenous communities,” said Stanford Masters student Michael Peñuelas.
Crowds of students willing to risk arrest planned to fill the first and second floors of the administration building and unfurl a banner reading “Divest Now!” from the balcony and read aloud a letter to President Hennessey. Instead, Hennessy chose to remain behind the closed doors of his office and lock students out.
This escalation comes after three years of intense pressure from Fossil Free Stanford. The undergraduate student body, undergraduate senate, and graduate student council have all passed resolutions in support of full fossil fuel divestment. In October, the student body President and Vice President repeated the collective call. The campaign has met regularly since the end of 2012 with the Office of the President and the University’s Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility and Licensing (APIR-L), which is charged with upholding Stanford’s policy on investment responsibility.
Just last week, student organizers met with President Hennessy and the chair of the APIR-L. “Our Administration says that they are still working on further divestment, but they’ve stalled for years on a real decision. President Hennessy and the Board of Trustees have been dismissive of the strong student and faculty consensus at their own University and they need to reckon with how seriously their university takes the increasingly deadly and unjust impacts of climate change,” said Stanford Sophomore Sijo Smith.
Fossil Free Stanford won divestment from the largest publicly held coal extraction companies through a vote of the Board of Trustees in May of 2014. In response, 379 Stanford faculty members launched and delivered to President Hennessy a letter demanding further, comprehensive divestment from both the oil and gas industries. The letter states:
“For Stanford to remain invested in oil and gas companies presents us with a paradox: If a university seeks to educate extraordinary youth so they may achieve the brightest possible future, what does it mean for that university simultaneously to invest in the destruction of that future? Given that the university has signalled its awareness of the dangers posed by fossil fuels, what are the implications of Stanford’s making only a partial confrontation with this danger?”
Last week the faculty repeated their call for their University to prove itself accountable to its faculty and student communities. In the next few days a number of these same faculty will be joining the students to lead them in teach-ins.
“Our action comes just 2 weeks before historic UN climate negotiations in Paris and Stanford can stall no longer. Millions will be out in the streets calling for a just, equitable and legally-binding agreement, including dozens of Stanford students who are headed to Paris. As of now our delegation is going without any real commitment on climate action from our University because Stanford is not stepping up to divest,” says Stanford Masters student Annie Osborn.
Fossil Free Stanford has no plan to leave the building, and will be joined by alumni, faculty, and community members throughout the coming days.
###
Visit www.fossilfreestanford.org for more details on the history of the campaign.
November 16, 2025
Contact: Michael Peñuelas, Fossil Free Stanford // +1-206-218-4345 // [email protected]
Palo Alto, CA -- At 1:00 p.m. today, 100 students at Stanford University attempted to enter President John Hennessey’s office to begin a sit in demanding full divestment from the fossil fuel industry. The administration refused them entrance to the building.
PHOTO LINK 1: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cqjkf96jz8a2en3/AABufYohiUBey1NiKz8mlbRTa?dl=0
PHOTO LINK 2: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uwpbkg8pop8obx6/AAAoAcKPKRBSQhhA6hCM0kk0a?dl=0
275 other students joined them for the largest rally in Fossil Free Stanford’s history. Students immediately launched a blockade surrounding the outside of the building, and currently have no plans to leave. The campaign’s escalation follows a pledge signed by students to take direct action if the administration made no move this quarter to divest Stanford’s endowment from oil and gas in addition to coal.
“We refuse to let Stanford stand idly by and continue to remain invested in the companies perpetuating the climate crisis. We are bringing divestment to our administration’s front door, because the Board must make a decision: does Stanford stand with the fossil fuel industry or for climate justice? Right now Stanford is financing companies that are wrecking our planet, which disproportionality harms communities of color, low-income people, and indigenous communities,” said Stanford Masters student Michael Peñuelas.
Crowds of students willing to risk arrest planned to fill the first and second floors of the administration building and unfurl a banner reading “Divest Now!” from the balcony and read aloud a letter to President Hennessey. Instead, Hennessy chose to remain behind the closed doors of his office and lock students out.
This escalation comes after three years of intense pressure from Fossil Free Stanford. The undergraduate student body, undergraduate senate, and graduate student council have all passed resolutions in support of full fossil fuel divestment. In October, the student body President and Vice President repeated the collective call. The campaign has met regularly since the end of 2012 with the Office of the President and the University’s Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility and Licensing (APIR-L), which is charged with upholding Stanford’s policy on investment responsibility.
Just last week, student organizers met with President Hennessy and the chair of the APIR-L. “Our Administration says that they are still working on further divestment, but they’ve stalled for years on a real decision. President Hennessy and the Board of Trustees have been dismissive of the strong student and faculty consensus at their own University and they need to reckon with how seriously their university takes the increasingly deadly and unjust impacts of climate change,” said Stanford Sophomore Sijo Smith.
Fossil Free Stanford won divestment from the largest publicly held coal extraction companies through a vote of the Board of Trustees in May of 2014. In response, 379 Stanford faculty members launched and delivered to President Hennessy a letter demanding further, comprehensive divestment from both the oil and gas industries. The letter states:
“For Stanford to remain invested in oil and gas companies presents us with a paradox: If a university seeks to educate extraordinary youth so they may achieve the brightest possible future, what does it mean for that university simultaneously to invest in the destruction of that future? Given that the university has signalled its awareness of the dangers posed by fossil fuels, what are the implications of Stanford’s making only a partial confrontation with this danger?”
Last week the faculty repeated their call for their University to prove itself accountable to its faculty and student communities. In the next few days a number of these same faculty will be joining the students to lead them in teach-ins.
“Our action comes just 2 weeks before historic UN climate negotiations in Paris and Stanford can stall no longer. Millions will be out in the streets calling for a just, equitable and legally-binding agreement, including dozens of Stanford students who are headed to Paris. As of now our delegation is going without any real commitment on climate action from our University because Stanford is not stepping up to divest,” says Stanford Masters student Annie Osborn.
Fossil Free Stanford has no plan to leave the building, and will be joined by alumni, faculty, and community members throughout the coming days.
###
Visit www.fossilfreestanford.org for more details on the history of the campaign.
