Vice President of Climate Justice at Boston College (CJBC) Stephanie Robinson urged the University to divest from fossil fuels during CJBC’s “Rights on the Heights” protest, saying BC not only ignores its students’ calls for divestment but also the pope’s.
“They don’t listen to students,” Robinson, MCAS ’23, said while addressing the crowd. “They don’t listen to faculty. It’s like the only thing they listen to is money.”
Members of CJBC and a crowd of students gathered at the entrance of O’Neill Library for the protest as rain plummeted down on Tuesday night. Robinson addressed the crowd before inviting attendees to speak and share their thoughts on divestment at BC.
Attendee H Edwards said if BC really cared about its students, it would divest.
“Boston College doesn’t realize that they’re so worried about their brand name, but by not divesting and by not caring about the climate, they are damaging that,” Edwards, MCAS ’26, said. “With fellow students, with people who could possibly donate, and so if they really want to take that monetary route, they should really listen to the climate justice group here.”
Nickolas Constantino, a CJBC member, said BC has a lot of room for improvement. BC demands a lot out of its students, yet it does a poor job of taking care of them, Constantino said.
“From struggling to provide resources for queer students or struggling to take care of the environment,” Constantino, MCAS ’23, said. “Or trying to get the motivation to take care of the environment. But they can do the landscaping pretty damn well.”
Constantino is finishing off his senior year, so he said learning how to advocate to create change on campus with his remaining time at BC is stressful.
“It’s just another layer of stress on top of the things we already have to worry about,” Constantino said to the crowd. “The economy’s going down the drain. I’m gonna have a hard time finding a job … and to have to deal with these kinds of things on top of learning how to take care of the environment. It’s just a lot.”
Another CJBC member, Emily Ternynck said it is frustrating to be told by professors that this generation needs to fix climate change, but then not have any support from BC’s administration.
“It’s just kind of absurd that we’re getting told, you know, ‘You’re gonna learn all these things in your classes and it’s up to you to change the world,’” Ternynck, MCAS ’25, said to the group. “When BC could do so much just by divesting. There’s so much power in these people’s hands right now.”
Robinson hoisted up a sign at the end of the protest that read, “An institution that does not live its values does not have values.”
“Now, I know all of you guys stand for the important values that we want to see replicated here and in the world,” Robinson said. “And the only way that we’re going to make them a reality is if we work for it, and that can be exhausting. But that’s why we have all of us to lean on each other when we need to.”
