Resistance members join fight for Divestment at UQ

August 28, 2015
Issue 

The University of Queensland Resistance Club has joined with other student clubs to call on the university administration to divest money from fossil fuels.

The university has an undisclosed amount of money invested in projects whose emissions jeopardise the future of the young people that UQ is supposed to be educating.

Led by UQ Fossil Free, students, staff and affiliated student organisations have submitted petitions demanding a transfer of money away from fossil fuels. But at this stage there has been no formal response from the university administration of the Vice-Chancellor, Peter Hoj.

An August 26 statement by the UQ Resistance Club called on the university to:

· “immediately freeze new investment in fossil fuel companies;

· divest within five years from direct ownership of and from any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds; and

· achieve maximum transparency with regards to the university’s share portfolio by listing all investments of a publicly accessible website.”

The statement said that without doing so the university will have failed its stated mission to "create change".

“We therefore declare our full support for and solidarity with the Fossil Free movement, and call upon the University Senate and Vice Chancellor Peter Hoj to immediately disclose the university’s investment portfolio and to divest from fossil fuel companies,” the statement said.

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