UMaine divests from coal

Letter to the editor: Response to Emerson ’70

To the Editors:
I was dismayed to read last week’s letter to the editor from Jeff D. Emerson ’70, wherein he criticized the views of Christopher Wedeman ’15. To be clear, I don’t share Wedeman’s views, but I was disappointed that Emerson, a Bowdoin trustee, would resort to ad hominen attacks and straw man arguments in order to put down a current student.
For example, Emerson insinuated that Wedeman is disdainful of the First Amendment because he questions the wisdom of giving a person a public forum on campus. However, the First Amendment protects citizens only from government restrictions on speech. There is no constitutional right to be an invited speaker at a private college nor is there a constitutional guarantee that a choice of speaker must be free from student criticism. Accordingly, Wedeman is of no immediate threat to our constitutional rights.
Notwithstanding his incorrect interpretation of constitutional law, Emerson further contends that Wedeman’s dissenting views somehow disparage Bowdoin’s military veterans who died to protect our freedoms. Emerson, neither you nor I know exactly what motivated each of these brave men and women, but I sincerely doubt any of them gave their lives with the hope that their deaths would be used as a cheap rhetorical ploy by a trustee bullying a student.
I hope Bowdoin continues to recruit speakers who will challenge the campus’ prevailing politics. I also hope that students who oppose such speakers’ views will continue to voice their dissent.
But I most fervently hope that the trustees as a whole possess better reasoning skills and a greater depth of character than Emerson has displayed.
Sincerely,Kevin R. Larivee ’06

Letter to the editor: Thank You

Thank you
To the Editors:On behalf of our family, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Bowdoin College: our president, Barry Mills, and Dean for Academic Affairs, Cristle Collins Judd, my esteemed colleagues, and all of our dedicated staff, who labored so lovingly at my husband’s funeral, interment and reception. We are especially grateful to Dining Services, who, faced with the challenge of producing the annual Thanksgiving dinner that evening, provided refreshments at the reception following William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Constitutional Law Richard Morgan’s burial. It has been a painful time for us, and speaking personally, I would like to thank Bowdoin’s administration, Trustees, and my colleagues across campus, but especially in the government department, as well as students past and present for their outpouring of support.Sincerely,Jean M. YarbroughGary M. Pendy, Sr., Professor of Social Sciences

Letter to the editor

January 29, 2015

To the Editors:

Exciting news! Responding to calls from student activist groups, the University of Maine (UMaine) System Board of Trustees unanimously voted to divest from direct coal holdings on Monday. The University System, which was one of the first to divest from South African apartheid in the 1980s, is now the first land grant system to divest from coal.

The UMaine schools join the growing list of institutions that have committed to some form of divestment, including Hampshire College, Pitzer College and Stanford University. The UMaine board also stated its willingness to consider fully divesting from fossil fuels and announced that UMaine Presque Isle had done so quietly already.

This is very exciting because divestment is a hugely important step toward achieving justice for those harmed by the fossil fuel industry. Pollution from coal companies and fossil fuels disproportionately affects impoverished communities, and climate change will disproportionately harm vulnerable populations across the globe. Thus, divestment in my mind is an environmental justice issue.

I would love to see Bowdoin follow UMaine’s lead and invest in an equitable future. Since they can do it, why can’t we? Let’s be on the forefront of history, Bowdoin, and commit to countering global climate change now.

Meredith Outterson ’17

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