Let me be honest – I am the textbook definition of a Northeast liberal. Still, I can really relate to the “Plight of the New England Republican” whenever I walk by an inconveniently located group of people donning protest banners and showcasing enthusiastically choreographed (ugh) call-and-response chants as they camp out in public in the name of an uber-progressive cause. (Like damn, did nobody ever tell them there are ways to save the earth without living in a tent? Is Change.org no longer a thing that exists???)* Lately, it seems there’s only one NU campus group that really fits this description and you all know exactly who I’m talking about.
* Disclaimer: Despite my snarky asides riddled throughout the following interview, it should be noted that I actually fully support Divest NU’s cause. However, I do so from the comfort of my own bed. In my apartment. Where I sleep. Every night. Because we live in a CIVILIZED. SOCIETY. (And I really hate the cold.)
The members of Divest NU have been camping out on Centennial Common in the heart of Northeastern University’s campus since October 3, and they have an important story to tell. So with that in mind, I begrudgingly cast aside my (admittedly unjustified) judgement/superiority complex and introduced myself to Austin Williams, the charismatic leader of those disruptive, privileged, granola-loving hippies occupying the quad. (Incidentally, Austin looks EXACTLY how you’d expect: a Brooklyn-hipster-meets-college-student-meets-lumberjack who recently saw ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ for the first time and panicked.)
Here are some of the highlights from our conversation:
Name: Austin Williams
Year: Senior (5th year)
Majors: Political Science & Environmental Studies
How did you get involved with Divest NU?
(Author’s note: HC Northeastern named Austin a ‘Campus Celeb’ when he was a sophomore, so you can read about his early experience with Divest NU here. But the Sparknotes version is that he’s an environmentally conscious activist* who was part of a group of Divest NU agitators that Northeastern officials once threatened to arrest in an April 2016 protest against the university’s continued involvement with the fossil fuel industry.
* Sorry, did I say activist? I meant BAMF.)
So what exactly is Divest NU and why are you guys camped out on the quad?
AW: We are members of the Northeastern community moving to divest the university’s endowment from fossil fuels. We’re protesting the administration’s continued willingness to work with companies in the fossil fuel industry, because… Look, Northeastern advertises itself as the number one most sustainable school in the nation and invests in all this sustainable technology, yet it continues to pour millions into companies that stand for the exact opposite values. It just doesn’t make sense.
Right now, we’re out here because we’re standing in solidarity* with the millions of people around the world losing their homes due to climate change. We’re in this specific location because it’s really easy to drive conversation and engage folks on campus in discussions about fossil fuel divestment. And they’ve been incredibly receptive.
* Speaking of “standing in solidarity,” several politically-themed groups on campus have been holding their meetings on Centennial this week to show support for Divest NU’s cause. Touching, right? WRONG. NU College Democrats (of which I am a member) did this on Tuesday night; it was dark and cold and I didn’t have a jacket. Long story short, I’m a Republican now.
How long do you think you’ll be out here?
AW: We’re fully prepared to be out here until the university takes substantive action on fossil fuel divestment and demonstrates that it’s willing to put its students’ values above Exxon-Mobil’s priorities. And if the university wants us to leave Centennial, they know how to do that.*
* In case you missed the blatant subtext of this response, Austin basically just diplomatically told the university to “come at me, bro.” But if President Aoun is reading this, just know that Austin sounded SUPER polite and friendly when he said it. So don’t take it too personally.
I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one wondering this… Do y’all just live out here now? As in, sleep? Eat? Forego hygienic decency (ugh, someone behind me “woo”-ed at that part) for the sake of saving the planet?
AW: Yeah… I mean all of us out here are actually sleeping in tents every night; they’re not just there for show. We do obviously leave camp* to go to class and work… and along the way we do our best to shower and take care of ourselves.**
* In the author’s humble opinion, describing this set-up as a “camp” seems like a bit of a stretch… I’d refer to it more as a hastily-assembled fall catalogue photoshoot set for a company like REI that couldn’t use its first-choice location because L.L. Bean beat them to it.
** In an unexpected twist, they DID appear much cleaner up close than they looked from far away. Then again, I was bound to be surprised by their cleanliness because whenever I see a group of unshaven, flannel-wearing, tent-dwelling, caveman-adjacent, new-millennium beatniks, I automatically think two things:
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“If I ask those people the #1 place they want to go on vacation, they’ll all DEFINITELY say ‘Amsterdam.’”
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“That group looks like they collectively take about ten showers a year, tops.”
AW (cont’d): But yeah, we do eat here too. We’ve been really fortunate that the student body has been supportive of our action. And a lot of people have brought us food and provisions, which is always very appreciated.
Now on that topic, besides bringing you food and stuff, what’s the best way for students to help the cause? What would you appreciate most?
AW: The best thing people can do is stop by and talk to us about this issue. If they’re interested in the campaign, they should follow us on Facebook where we post all our information about upcoming events. In the next few days, we’ll be asking folks to call Northeastern leaders and administrators to let them know we’re disappointed in how the school is handling our campaign. We’ll post scripts up on our Facebook page too. We really encourage students to voice their opposition to the administration and say they want to see substantive change; that will really help us and the campaign out.
Okay, so I get that you have a bone to pick with the administration, and I personally support your cause 100%. But to play devil’s advocate for a minute, the Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson pointed out that “in billions of years, the sun is going to actually grow and encompass the earth. Global warming is in our future.” So honestly, with everything you’re doing out here today… what’s the point? What would you say to that totally irrefutable argument?
AW: Well you know, the sun goes up, the sun goes down, you can’t explain that… Really, though, if I could say one thing on that, a lot of folks think the earth goes through temperature cycles and periods of extreme heat and that it’s just natural to the global climate. But what’s significant about climate change now is the accelerated rate of change we’re currently experiencing, because we’re overwhelming our natural systems. You know, the last time the earth swung just a couple of degrees Celsius colder, we were plunged into an ice age.*
* Cue the onset of my latest existential crisis. Thanks.
AW (cont’d): The good news is a lot of governments across the globe recently agreed to make a change by signing the international Paris Agreement. But fossil fuel companies keep spending billions on energy that is not sustainable for this earth; they’re putting their own personal profit above the interest of the many billions of people on this planet. That’s why Divest NU is doing everything we can to push back against the university’s actions.
Fair enough. Any last words before the earth is encompassed by the sun?
AW: I guess I’ll go with… “What is Aleppo?”*
* Touche, Austin. Touche.
So, to sum it all up:
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Divest NU is almost exclusively comprised of surprisingly clean hippies – another week living on the quad, though and that may change. (Admirably, I didn’t see a single white guy with dreads, so there’s hope for our world yet.)
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To be perfectly honest, Austin could’ve been BSing me this whole time and I wouldn’t have known. He’s a super smooth, well-spoken, friendly looking (albeit rough around the edges) man of the people-type… like if a young Bill Clinton – minus the saxophone and southern drawl – raided an Urban Outfitters. So members of the Northeastern University administration, take note: If you think you’re going to win this one, you better have the ACTUAL Bill Clinton on your side. Otherwise, you’re in for a pretty rough ride.
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For real though, the university will only change its energy policy if enough students show support for the cause. So make some noise, donate if you can, and join the club to engage in some nature-loving civil disobedience Henry David Thoreau-style!
- If all else fails, at least we have that super fun, world-ending solar flair to look forward to in a few billion years, so that should be a BLAST. In the meantime… #JohnsonWeld2016, I guess???