Washington University board member Harry Seigle supported fossil fuels and denied “the effects of anthropogenic climate change” in a response letter sent to Fossil Free WashU, the group shared on Facebook last week.

Fossil Free WashU sent out letters to the University’s Board of Trustees as part of their Valentine’s Day campaign, calling for them to “act on climate change by supporting divestment.”

Seigle was the only board member to respond to Fossil Free WashU’s Valentine’s Day campaign. In his response, Seigle first addressed the attention the organization drew to California’s wildfire problems.

“The suggestion that global warming is causing these fires seems as unscientific as my suggesting here in sub-zero Chicago the earth is cooling,” Seigle wrote.

Seigle stated endowments “are for the purpose of growing the wealth of the University,” before writing about the advantages of fossil fuels in his reply.

“Fossil fuels are affordable, local, abundant and represent 80-90% of our energy,” Seigle wrote. “Our coal, oil and nuclear generating facilities have never been ‘cleaner’ than today. Alternative energies contribute less than 5% of our energy usage and are subsidized.”

According to Professor of Earth & Planetary Sciences Michael Wysession, there is a “statistically clear connection between global warming and increased forest fires.” Wysession said that now is the “ideal time to divest from [the coal industry] before it collapses entirely.”

“The whole [coal] market is tanking… The renewable energy market has over two million jobs,; it is the fastest growing segment of the economy,” Wysession said. “It’s the area, in fact, that you do want to invest in because it’s booming and increasing. Even natural gas power plants are now turning to wind and solar because it’s cheaper…You want to get out of coal and invest in wind and solar. This is where the jobs are, this is where the market increases.”

Wysession said that to effectively communicate the need for divestment to board members, students should focus on the economic rationales.

“Honestly [the board members] don’t care about the science. They care about the bottom line,” Wysession said. “If you point out to them this is just an incredibly fiscally foolish decision to stay invested in coal, they have no comeback for that.”

According to Fossil Free WashU Head of Communications sophomore Eddie Ives, they waited to share Seigle’s full response on their Facebook page because they wanted “to think about how best to get that information out there.”

“It got over 50 shares on Facebook,” Ives said. “People were mad about it and people have reached out us in student government wanting to publicly condemn the statement and demanding a response from the administration [on] if they’re going to justify that and accept that or if they want to work toward fighting the issue.”

According to Ives, Fossil Free WashU was shocked by Seigle’s reply and its ramifications.

“We engage in our call for divestment assuming, at worst, a good faith debate about the merits of divestment, and what we came to realize is that it’s a whole different playing field,” Ives said. “If members don’t believe in climate change, then how are they going to support divestment? It’s not representative of the student body or the University’s research and values.”

Junior and leader in Fossil Free WashU Khalid Mahmood said that he believes the implications of Seigle’s response are dangerous.

“To be fair [Seigle] didn’t deny climate change per se, he more just refused to acknowledge that it was an issue that we should act on, which is arguably worse because we’re well past the ‘believing in climate change’ point,” Mahmood said. “The latest [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] IPPC report says we have 12 years to act. It’s time to take action.”

According to both Mahmood and Ives, the Board of Trustees has issues with transparency and representing the interests of students.

“They make really sweeping decisions about really important issues without any communication or input from students that’s reflective of how the student body feels,” Ives said. “We want people to see that these people aren’t just what we might assume to be similar to us. They might have views contrary to us.”

The Student Union Senate Campus and Residential Experience Committee sent an email supporting divestment to the student body in response to Seigle’s letter Friday. The committee also highlighted the need for board transparency.

“We call upon the Board of Trustees and the Washington University administration to respond to this statement and enter into a good-faith dialogue with the student body about fossil fuel divestment and its relationships with coal companies,” the email said. “Making key decisions behind closed doors and with little to no explanation … forces student advocates into an antagonistic relationship with the Board and the administration, rather than allowing for a collaborative one.”

Editor’s Note: Harry Seigle was unable to be reached for comment at the time of publication.

Additional reporting by Curran Neenan