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DivestVU and Dores Divest held an approximately 30-person protest today from 2:15 to 3 p.m. CST. The protestors marched from Library Lawn to Kirkland Circle in support of divestment of the university endowment from fossil fuels.

Broadway—10 feet underwater. Nissan Stadium—an Olympic swimming pool. Islands of cars in parking lot oceans. This isn’t the Nashville of a distant climate projection but rather the Nashville of 2010. Ten years ago, landlocked Davidson county experienced catastrophic flooding.

A decade ago, noted environmentalist Bill McKibben had a radical-sounding idea. To save the planet, we needed to “revoke the social license of the fossil fuel industry.” His comprehensive vision of fossil fuel divestment would require financial institutions and civil society to stand shoulder-to-shoulder.

Vanderbilt’s most famous former student, Al Gore, called for fossil fuel divestment at Harvard University, which ultimately divested in 2021. We need the leadership of more alums like Al and yourself to help turn the tide on fossil fuels at Vandy!