History

September 2021

First public comments are given at Board of Regents’ meeting.

November 2021

Student Survey shows 70% of more than 1,000 respondents in favor of fossil fuel divestment.

WSU Foundation CEO Mike Connell announces Investment Committee decision to implement ESG investing.

February 2022

Student Petition is launched.

March 2022

Stevie Fawcett meets on Zoom with Regent Chair Marty Dickinson.

April 2022

President Kirk Schulz announces creation of WSU Sustainability Task Force.

October 2022

First rally and march is held.

November 2022

Mason Burns meets with President Schulz.

April 2023

Second rally is held on Earth Day.

September 2023

Members meet on Zoom with Jenette Ramos, Vice Chair of the WSU Board of Regents.

October 2023

ASWSU Senate approves resolution to support FFWSU campaign.  Student Petition signatures reach 1,000.  Faculty/staff Survey shows of 315 respondents 53% of in favor of WSU’s divestment, 35% opposed.

January 2024

Three members of FFWSU selected for participation on the WSU Sustainability Task Force.

February 2024

Members of FFWSU meet with Mike Connell to discuss divestment recommendation details.  Members meet with Christine Hoyt, Vice President of Strategy, Planning, and Analysis, and Regent Ramos on divestment in relation to a strategic plan.

September 2024

FFWSU decides to file a letter of public complaint to the state of Washington Attorney General for non-compliance on the part of the WSU Foundation, WSU’s fiduciary, with provisions of the state’s Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act.  The Foundation’s investment of an estimated $43-50 million in the fossil fuel sector violates their duty under the PMIFA requiring non-profits to consider their beneficiaries’ “charitable purposes” and to exercise “prudence” and “loyalty” when investing.

At the Board of Regents’ Strategic and Operational Excellence Committee meeting, FFWSU’s specific divestment recommendation, WSU’s divestment from the world’s largest 200 fossil fuel companies, is included (as an Appendix) in the WSU Sustainability Task Force’s Report to the Board of Regents.  Fossil fuel divestment is one of two General Recommendations on the Report.

October 2024

FFWSU holds a rally on the WSU Pullman campus and marches to the offices of President Schulz and the WSU Foundation in downtown Pullman to deliver a letter to Schulz and John Mingé, Chairman of the WSU Foundation Board of Directors, announcing FFWSU’s plan to file the complaint letter to the state Attorney General. The October 23rd rally and march receives more local news coverage than any previous event hosted by FFWSU: an article in the print edition of the Daily Evergreen for the first time, articles in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Lewiston Tribune, and news stories on Northwest Public Broadcasting and Moscow Free Radio KRFP. 

November 2024

November 15 Board of Regents Meeting, Mike Connell, CEO of the WSU Foundation, indicates that the Foundation’s Investment Committee has included on their December meeting agenda the topic of creating an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment option for donors to specify that their money not be invested in certain areas such as fossil fuels. President Schulz adds that this is being done partly because “we made a commitment to some of the divestiture groups” that “we would put in place that opportunity” for donors. He concludes by saying, “I want to be really direct—we are going to have something and we will do it soon and make sure we do the PR around that as well.”

January 2025

At the Board of Regents meeting, Mike Connell indicates that the Investment Committee is definitely creating an “ESG friendly fund” and that he will meet with Mercer, the Foundation’s investment advisor, on January 27th on the most efficient way to set up the ESG option. He mentions a “pretty specific mandate from Kirk” to provide this option.

February 2025

Following FFWSU’s Valentine’s Day tabling event on the Pullman campus, the number of signatures on the student petition for WSU’s fossil fuel divestment reaches 1,141, an increase of approximately 58 from September.

FFWSU advocacy spreads to the WSU Vancouver campus, including a tabling event planned for the week of Earth Day in April.

History of the campaign in print

Photo Gallery

Earth Day 2023 Rally – Photo by Grey Kamasz
Fossil Free March October 28, 2022 – Photo by Liam Connors
Olivia Hallquist hands a letter of demands to Phil Weiler at the President’s suite, Oct. 27 2022 –
Photo by Liam Connors