This morning, Bank of America campus recruiters at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) found the best and the brightest in their student interviews.
Unfortunately for the bank, UNCC’s best and brightest were there to protest Bank of America and their funding for coal and climate chaos.
Six activists, supported by UNCC alumni and students, burst into a Bank of America campus recruitment interview and delivered a clear message: “Bank of America, Divest from Coal!”
Maiada Carpano, a recent graduate of UNCC who helped plan today’s action, said: “This is a strong statement from students. Bank of America is pushing students into financial debt and the bank is destroying our future by funding coal and climate chaos. We will not further Bank of America’s destructive agenda by working with them.”
Ms. Carpano added: “We ask students across the country to join us in exposing Bank of America’s greenwash by disrupting their campus recruitment events.”
Student power is on the march; across the country, campuses are uniting against university investments in the fossil fuel industry. Students know that investments in fossil fuels–like coal and oil–are investments in climate chaos and mass extinction.
At UNCC, students and community allies worked together to leverage their power against Bank of America’s massive investments in the coal industry. Over the past 2 years, the bank has pumped more than $6.4 billion dollars into mountaintop removal mines and coal-fired power plants. Imagine an amount that is likely more than your local university’s entire endowment funneled exclusively into coal, the largest source of climate changing emissions in our country. That’s some dirty business.
It is past time Bank of America divests from the coal industry, but the bank still needs convincing. That’s where student power comes in. Over the upcoming months–maybe even next week–Bank of America recruiters will come to campuses looking to hire students for internships and careers. Would you take a job with one of the nation’s largest climate criminals?
RAN is calling for students, alumni, and allies across the country to push back against Bank of America’s campus recruitment activities. Collectively, students can withhold their labor and consent for Bank of America’s climate-destroying coal financing. By leveraging our voices at these key opportunities, our movement can cut the financial legs out from under the coal industry. To start taking action, email RAN’s global finance campaign at: todd@ran.org