Senate will meet Wednesday night.
Student Senate will vote on an environmentally focused agenda Wednesday, including one resolution to support the environmental committee fossil fuel divestment proposal and another to make the environmental committee an official senate commission.
If OU were to support divesting from fossil fuels, the university would join the ranks of more than 30 schools that have made the commitment to divest.
“The proposal is asking that we, as a university, be socially responsible and realize that where we spend our money has real-world consequences,” said Grant Stover, Post columnist, a sponsor of the resolution and Ecology and Energy Conservation Committee co-chair. “If we’re investing in fossil fuels we’re contributing to climate change, and that leaves us responsible for what happens on this planet.”
Stover writes a weekly column for The Post.
In addition to fossil fuel divestment, senate will decide whether to make the environmental committee a full commission.
A committee is established for special projects or short-term issues, but a commission is established to handle long-term objectives, said Gabby Bacha, a South Green senator.
If the environmental committee is given the title of commission, it will be granted commissioners with voting rights at general body meetings.
The environmental committee hasn’t already become a commission due to a rule in senate’s constitution that requires committees to exist for at least six months before receiving voting rights, said Jacob Haskins, vice commissioner for Residence Life.
“This was always a plan that we’ve had and always something we’ve been supporting,” said Haskins.
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