University Vows to Lock Out Students Opposed to ExxonMobil Exec's Commencement Speech

[marmar]

from the Post Carbon Institute, via AlterNet:



University Vows to Lock Out Students Opposed to ExxonMobil Exec's Commencement Speech


There's a storm brewing on the small campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute over the kind of vision for the future to be imparted to graduating students at this year's commencement. Offering one vision is Rex Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobil—the largest private oil company in the world and a major funder of climate deniers. Offering the other is Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow-in-Residence at Post Carbon Institute. The two visions couldn't be further apart, nor the stakes higher.

According to students at WPI, ExxonMobil has given at least $1.3 million to the school. The decision to invite Tillerson was taken without consulting the community and kept a secret for over two years. The administration has also opposed efforts to find out the exact nature of the decision making process that led to the invitation.

Given ExxonMobil’s track record, the decision to invite Tillerson didn’t sit well with a number of students and faculty. WPI Students for a Just and Stable Future (SJSF) took up the cause, protesting Tillerson’s invitation, but to no avail. So students took matters into their own hands. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/574643/university_vows_to_lock_out_students_opposed_to_exxonmobil_exec%27s_commencement_speech/

[Buzz Clik]

1. Oh, the conflicts! He undoubtedly donated millions to WPI, but his company sucks.

What to do? Take the money and lock out the students.

Fuck 'em. Who's running this school? It's not like the students have any significant investment, right? Let the man talk.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. What a tangled web.

WPI gives out great scholarships out to minority group. Or, at least, they did at one time. It's a bitch to think that this is where the money is coming from. On the other hand, why doesn't this petrol company just pay their taxes without using tax loopholes?

[Blue_Tires]

3. ttt