The divestment campaign of Vanderbilt University students has been highlighting the complicity of the university in backing fossil fuel companies amid dire reports regarding climate change.
The other weekend, the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust conferred Daniel Diermeier with the rank of chancellor in the so-called investiture process. The administration disclosed few details regarding the events from the weekend, keeping locations confidential and limiting in-person attendees. The Dores canvassed the reception of Diermeier the other day. Administrative staffers coordinated the entrance of Diermeier and a fast exit surrounding them.
The student group has formed an on-campus presence through canvassing and direct actions. Student members are fluent when it comes to memes as well as have steadily escalated their acts toward the board and Diermeier. Chancellor Diermeier works parallelly in the form of a managing consulting expert. As per his curriculum vitae, oil companies such as Shell, BP, and ExxonMobil are the past clients of Diermeier.
First-year university student Aaditi Lele said that the group would ask Diermeier to remove himself from getting any vote on divestment as he has an extremely apparent conflict of interest.
In 2020, the whole student body got an email that seemed to have originated from the chancellor’s office. In the email, the Dores not only highlighted their student divestment petition but also shared a pro-divestment performance from actor Brian Baumgartner. Some campus demonstrations in the 2020 springtime grew the numbers of the group but received few responses from the university administration. Later, an activist background framed the keynote address of the chancellor at the Vanderbilt University Founders Walk, which was a ceremony to welcome freshmen. Then, Al Gore supported the divestment attempt on campus.
Two months before, Dores Divest became part of an official complaint submitted against the university and Diermeier with Tennessee Attorney GeneralHerbert Slatery. The complaint elucidated conflicts of interest (COIs) between the private capacity of Diermeier as a consultant for fossil fuels and his purview over investments in the fossil fuel industry as chancellor. The complaint came as a consequence of an attempt between Stanford University, Vanderbilt University, Yale University, Princeton University, and MIT to coordinate divestment campaigns on campus. Harvard University fully divested in 2021 after a prolonged fight with students who work as activists.
The university administration has largely been silent about the matter, occasionally recasting events through press releases in order to avoid citing student activism. Meanwhile, Diermeier frames the matter in the form of an open question, rebuking the approach of the Dores to discuss. While the university considers divestment political expression, it does not make that same standard applicable to its existing industry investments.
Some student activists have encountered disciplinary action associated with some elements of organizing, such as distributing flyers in undesignated places or breaching COVID-19 protocols during demonstrations. Metro Nashville cops kept prospective demonstrators out of a recent alumni event in Tennessee. Ph.D. candidate and Dores Divest joint-founder Miguel Moravec continue to serve disciplinary probation as he played a part in delivering the spoofed electronic mail.
On the other hand, the university cited sophomore Celia Waldmanas who hung posters on a location outside a dormitory that is not designated for that purpose. The university used footage from school cameras to build a solid case against Waldman. The sophomore said that the university wished to scare her out of making those kinds of moves and that it made her more involved in student activism.
A group of investors manages billion-dollar pieces of endowment for universities, particularly the wealthy locations. Asset performance, which includes untaxed property, constitutes the legacy wealth of almost every private school. An anonymous part of Vanderbilt University’s endowment of $10 billion is put into oil and gas firms. The Vanderbilt’s Board of Trust Investment Committee has the authority to govern the portfolio of the university, and Diermeier is in it due to his university status.
Diermeier may be a symbolic and strategic target for the group, but the campaign seems personal in some cases. Students plaster the face of Diermeier on social media and across campus, make memes against the chancellor and become creative with Adobe Photoshop. At a recent alumni event, Diermeier faced questions regarding the Dores Divest group. In response, Diermeier stated that the group was attempting to inflict maximum pain. The statement is also in a recent recording at the Nashville Scene.
Diermeier also defended his conflict of interest with the group. The campaign has got coverage from Teen Vogue, Inside Higher Ed, and CNN. Vanderbilt University is yet to respond to a request for comment.