Divest Harvard’s ‘Heat Week’

In the spring, environmental activists demanding that Harvard divest its endowment from the fossil fuel industry attempted to disrupt University business for a week by blockading Harvard President Drew G. Faust’s office in Massachusetts Hall in an effort they called “Heat Week.”

The group responsible for the blockade, Divest Harvard, had been building momentum for nearly two years—in spring 2014, protesters blockaded Mass. Hall, resulting in the arrest of an undergraduate. In February, protesters from the group occupied the building. Faust condemned the February occupation and maintained her stance that Harvard should not sell its investments in the fossil fuel industry lest such a move politicize the University’s multi-billion dollar endowment. Emphasizing Harvard’s role in producing scientific research to combat climate change, Faust instead hosted a climate change panel the week of the blockade.

During their April “Heat Week,” Divest Harvard blocked the doors of Mass. Hall for six days, camping out overnight and forcing Harvard’s top administrators to work elsewhere. Crowds of alumni and supporters, including prominent former Harvard professor Cornel R. West ’74, flocked from across the nation to attend rallies the group held.

Divestment supporters did not restrict their activities to Mass. Hall. On multiple occasions, the group blocked the doors to University Hall, where top Faculty of Arts and Sciences administrators work. Led by environmental activist and former Crimson president Bill E. McKibben ’82, Harvard alumni in support of divestment occupied the offices of the Alumni Association for about two days. Some Harvard faculty, too, talked about divestment in their classes that week.

Many administrators remained quiet throughout the week, though Faust offered an ultimatum to protesters: end their blockade, and she would meet with them. Members of Divest Harvard did not meet with her and continued their protest.

Though the “Heat Week” protest put the national spotlight on the divestment movement in the spring, Harvard’s environmental activists significantly quieted down during the fall semester, focusing their efforts on appealing the dismissal of a lawsuit that urges Harvard to divest from fossil fuels.

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