‘Fossil Fuel Companies Are Hijacking Our Universities’: 6 Top Schools Received Over $100 Million in Funds From Polluting Industries Since 2003

Elite universities in the United States — which conduct important climate research — are raking in millions from fossil fuel interests, potentially creating conflicts of interest. This is according to a collection of new reports compiled by student organizers and released by the student-led Campus Climate Network, as The Guardian reported. “Universities globally are often caught in a web of financial and research dependencies with the fossil fuel sector. These ties not only conflict with the ethics of academic independence but also hinder the progress of genuine climate research,” Campus Climate Network said on its website. One institution, Princeton University, seems to have actually owned an oil company — Petrotiger, named after its mascot — earning it millions of dollars, reported The Guardian. Six analyses put together by students at each institution focused on Princeton, American University, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Cornell University, Columbia University and University of California, San Diego. “Fossil fuel companies are hijacking our universities to perpetuate their own toxic industry, and we students are not having it anymore,” said Will Kattrup, Campus Climate Network research lead, as The Guardian reported. In order to document university funding that came from fossil fuels, those conducting the research looked at tax forms revealing oil company donations to universities, tracked statements of conflict of interest in academic articles and searched for names of school board members associated with fossil fuel interests. Public information requests for additional financial information were also filed by students attending public universities. The researchers discovered that, since 2003, the six prestigious schools have accepted a total of more than $100 million in funding tied to the fossil fuel industry, either from companies or their charitable divisions.

‘Fossil Fuel Companies Are Hijacking Our Universities’: 6 Top Schools Received Over $100 Million in Funds From Polluting Industries Since 2003