Student advocacy group Coal Free Mizzou presented the MU Board of Curators today with 3,000 student signatures asking the University of Missouri to transition from coal to clean energy.
Forty demonstrators entered the Board of Curators meeting carrying a banner reading “Protect our Health, Move Mizzou beyond Coal”. Coal Free Mizzou president Alexendra Rather says this is the first time the student group approached the curators since it was started three years ago.
“I feel that it went really well. We didn’t get a chance to comment or to speak, but the fact that the chairman of the board, David Bradley, acknowledged us and encouraged the other board of curators members to engage with us. I think it’s a fantastic response. We didn’t really know what to expect coming in first time at the Board of Curators meeting,” Rather said.
MU Curators’ Chairman David Bradley says the Board of Curators has already phased out part of the coal plant on the University of Missouri campus but has not found a way to be independent of the energy source. Bradley says the University of Missouri has to bear the excessive costs for modifying the plant and moving to an alternative source of energy.