Divest Dalhousie failure welcomed by some on campus

Students and faculty at Dalhousie University who rely on the oil industry are breathing a big sigh of relief this week, they say the Halifax university has avoided a damaging mistake.

"The stakes were pretty high. If divestment did happen companies would likely divest from Dalhousie. We would lose a lot of funding," says student Colin MacAdam.

On Wednesday MacAdam and a handful of other future geologists were working at Dal's basin resevoir research labratory. The expensive computer software was donated by industry. The instructor is a retired geologist from the Exxon-led Sable offshore natural gas project.

"We rely on heavily on industry donations," says MacAdam.

In earth sciences, once known as geology, the energy industry funds faculty research and provides jobs for graduates.

Dalhousie's department competes with other universities for industrial benefits spending.

"Energy companies may chose to invest industrial benefits elsewhere in the province." says earth sciences chair Rebecca Jamieson.

"They have a choice."

Symbolic gesture 

On Tuesday the Dalhousie Board of Governors rejected a campaign to divest 200 top energy companies from its endowment portfolio.

The university said it respected the need for action on climate change but decided the symbolic gesture was not worth alienating the companies.

The vote, 15 to five with two  abstentions, was also a rejection of the campaign's explicit attempt to demonize the industry, equating it with Big Tobacco and South Africa under the apartheid regime.

"I know many of the students have hard feelings about this situation.  In many cases I appreciate what they are trying to do but by and large in a mainstream sense [industry] are part of the research agenda and we treat them like partners," says Marlon Lewis, chair of oceanography at Dalhousie.

The Department is deeply involved in energy industry issues from marine geophyscis for exploration to modelling oil and gas spills offshore.

"Funding from the oil and gas industry specifically is a very important part of our research portfolio. They sponsor both research that aids in exploration, but also they  sponsor a lot of research into environmental remediation and environmental protection," says Lewis.

The yearlong divestiture campaign has been awkward on campus. Many in academe, including departments relying on industry funding, believe in the need for action on climate change. 

"We appreciate the points made by the Divest Dal  group. Where we disagree is on the means of addressing the issue of climate change,'' says Jamieson.

Jamieson has objected to a letter of support from her union backing the Divest Dal campaign.

In a Nov. 23 letter to the Board of Governors union president wrote "on behalf of the Dalhousie Faculty Association to express our support for the Divest Dal campaign."

Jamieson has written back to her union.

"I'm a member of the Dal Faculty Associaton. l've been a supporter for of the DFA 35 years. They weren't speaking for me. That was my main concern," Jamieson says.

The Dalhousie faculty association did not respond to the CBC inquiry on this issue.

The fossil fuel divestment movement started in the U.S. and has spread across North America, including such Canadian institutions as the University of Ottawa, the University of Toronto, UBC and McGill.