A recent protest at Mount Allison ended with a sit-in of about 20 students at the university’s administrative offices, which forced President Ian Sutherland and two other members of the university’s executive team to meet with the group and listen to their demands for the university to divest mainly from fossil fuels.
The demonstration on Friday afternoon, March 27, began outside the campus library, then moved across Main Street to Windsor Hall, where a faculty and student town hall was taking place, before moving back across the road to Centennial Hall.
Led by Divest MTA, the group had one main demand, said Robert Zirpolo, one of the organizers.
“ So the specific demands, the same ones that Divest always has, is usually getting rid of our investments in the top 200 fossil fuel companies and getting rid of our investments in the top 100 war companies,” he said, “but that can also include companies like Google, who have tech that support military technology and all of that.”
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Zirpolo said another goal was to advocate for more student representation on the board of regents.
Divest MTA is a student-run group and part of a wider international movement. This was not the first time this academic year the group has caused disruptions on campus.
In November, according to an article in the student paper The Argosy, five members attended a board of regents meeting. While the board was asking questions following a presentation by Sutherland, Zirpolo and another member interrupted, asking about Mount Allison’s goals for environmental sustainability.
On Friday, a group of about 35 that included some faculty began to march through campus just after 12:30 pm. Demonstrators took turns leading chants with a megaphone. By the time the group was outside the town hall meeting, only students remained.
A dozen students entered the building to stand silently near the entrance during the meeting before the group relocated to Centennial Hall just after 1 pm to occupy the administrative offices. They hung signs and some made speeches.
Less than 20 minutes later, Sutherland, Robert Inglis, vice-president of finance and administration, and Nona Robinson, vice-president of student affairs, arrived at the offices and promptly met with the roughly 20 students.
The discussion lasted about 30 minutes, with one of the most repeated requests being that Sutherland release a campus-wide statement to students saying he was against genocide, something he refused to agree to.
He did, however, agree to connect with the investments committee to set up a meeting with Divest MTA so they could make their case.
The parties also came to an agreement that an email would be drafted to students saying the exec team had met with Divest organizers.
After that, the students calmly took down their signs and left.
All three university executives declined to comment.
Mikko McGregor Corson, another organizer and a fifth-year biology honours and geography student, will take the small victory, but wasn’t happy with Sutherland’s refusal to denounce genocide.
“ They will be making a statement that we met with them and presenting that there was collaborative efforts… which is not exactly them taking a position in an email. But because they have to go through their whole bureaucratic structure to even have opinions on things, that is the best that we can do.”
