Description
These videos show protestors from the Students for Environmental Concerns(SECS) activism group during the fall semester of 2010 and Spring Semester of 2016. These protests were held by the Beyond Coal division of the SECS group in an effort to eliminate the burning of coal by the University at the Abbott Power Plant to create eergy for the campus in 2010 and to divest from coal companies in 2016. With the efforts of the students in the video and around campus, the University was pushed, in 2012, to promise that the burning of coal would not be used by the University starting in the fiscal year of 2017. Through the use of spreading awareness to the student body and lobbying in the student senate these students were able to bring an end to a practice that is not environmentally conscious. Further, by the time the second protest took place, SECS had begun rallying support against the University's investments in coal ($5.1 million). In 2013 with the help of SECS, a referendum asked the student body if they believed the University should divest from coal companies and the results came in at six votes to one in favor of divestment. Although UIUC has not divested in coal to this point, students continue to gain attention from student and university leaders.