Universities continue revolt against RBC destroying their future
There has been a lot of activism on campuses across Canada this past year, as more and more students and even faculty realize that friendly-sounding RBC is actively investing on a future they don’t want to live in.
Whether it was the recent letter sent by Ivey business school students concerned about RBC CEO Dave McKay receiving an award from the university, seemingly continuous actions against RBC sponsored on campus events, or push-backs from faculty to RBC sponsored scholarships that reek of green- and red-washing.
Last week the student union at the University of Ottawa voted unanimously to cut all ties with RBC.
Then there was this prominent article in the University of Toronto’s student newspaper this week:Supporting RBC on Campus is Supporting the Climate Crisis. An excerpt:
Encouraging students to bank with RBC is encouraging them to support a company that depends on environmental degradation for success. By allowing RBC On Campus to take place at U of T, the university is … letting the actions of the country’s largest financier of fossil fuels be swept under the rug. Fossil fuel funders don’t belong at U of T, and severing partnerships with banks involved in the fossil fuel industry represents dedication both to the climate and to our futures.
Partnering with universities makes RBC seem like a champion of the younger generation. But this is a façade that obscures its true actions — RBC cannot claim to champion youth while simultaneously destroying their future. Fossil fuels are systematically eroding the biosphere’s capacity to support future generations, and to let its financiers onto our campus is to turn a blind eye to the realities of their environmental impact.