Spring is on its way, and with it comes a newly elected body of student government! Yay? Come on, you know you didn’t care that much. But when you think about it, they control the money, so it matters where that money is going. What does it say about us if fossil fuel companies profit from our investments? Well, let’s see what these new Associated Students of Madison people had to say. I was fortunate enough to attend last week’s ASM election results and after all the winners were announced, the press was given an opportunity to ask their questions. Now, it was my turn. I’m not a journalism major. I’m just a modestly concerned student filling in for someone. I also happen to believe in climate change and, being bitter over this polar vortex crap, decided to first ask them their stances on campus fossil fuel divestment. Anyone? Their silence felt like when some of Ellen’s jokes fell flat at the Oscars, but she still got laughs out of pity. She knows she wasn’t on her game that night. She knows.
Point being, nobody had anything to say to my divestment question. Then one representative decided to say something, and I applaud Andy Stoiber for jumping into the press shark tank by admitting he didn’t know much about campus divestment yet, but that “it makes the most sense for the University of Wisconsin … to not invest in fossil fuels.” Right on, Andy. It does make “the most sense” that we should not be investing in fossil fuels, but in clean energy. Maybe he can’t speak for everyone on ASM, and that’s fair. They all have their own opinion. But he has gotten the attention of someone who’s covering the issue now, and that makes him more important than the ones who remained silent (like ASM Sustainability Committee Chair Will Mulhern). Andy, that moment of standing up for the right cause might make you not just president of ASM someday, but president of the United States. Or, at least, the governor of Wisconsin. Heck, your willingness to admit to climate change shows you’d do better than the Koch brothers’ puppet, Gov. Scott Walker.
I’m not kidding on that one, actually. You know what other divestment issue the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus took noticeable charge of during the late 1970s? Divesting from South Africa because of apartheid, a cause Barack Obama took on passionately while he was in college—and now look where he is. UW campus divestment worked then, and it can work now. Actually, it has to work now. We have no other planet to sustain seven billion people on if the earth’s climate gets permanently out of wack. As the press conference went on, I began to feel a lot more confident with this group of elected officials. They were charming, passionate for change, willing to set a new precedent and seemed like overall solid representatives. But wait, they’re politicians! I can’t help but stay on my toes with them. After all, they may be sell-outs and not support the grassroots divestment campaign that’s prominent around college campuses all over the country at this point. Climate change is a serious matter, and we need to address it step by step. Luckily, the Associated Students of Madison have expressed more vocal support than opposition to the first step. True, barely anyone remarked on divestment, but I highly doubt it was because they were afraid of me. After all, they control the money. What’s one voice on a student newspaper going to do to them? Ruin them. No, just kidding. I can actually see a lot of progress ahead from those we elected. ASM Senior Class President Maria Giannopoulos has the right attitude with all of this, especially when she takes such a strong interest in improving commencement. Do I sense a graduation speaker more inspirational than the guy from Workaholics? Highly unlikely, but I guess we’ll see. I wish the new student government all the best. When we work together as a campus community, we accomplish so much more than we expected. Students here understand climate change, and if there’s divestment opposition there, those voices will be heard, too. However, I highly doubt any journalism major here would ever sacrifice their career prospects and write about divestment being a bad idea. Who else outside of the Fox News’ bubble would hire them after college?
The campus has every reason to expect the most out of ASM. Either they are a group of privileged kids who selfishly want a title to their names, or they serve as a member on one of the few democratically elected institutions that still listens to us. I like to believe in the latter. They expressed a desire to hear how we feel on campus, and I think I can sum it up: I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this (polar vortex) anymore! Also, please don’t take away my bus pass.
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