Student protestors gathered in front of M.D. Anderson Library Tuesday to rally against Houston-based energy company Dynegy.
Emily Stone, a field organizer with the Sierra Club was one of the rally coordinators.
"Today is a national day of action," Stone said. "Over 300 schools are participating in protesting at the Dynegy shareholder’s meeting on May 14 in downtown Houston."
Students protested with a march and "die-in" to recognize Bruce A. Williamson, CEO of Dynegy and UH graduate, as a leading "Fossil Fool," Stone said.
Dynegy has scheduled to build six coal powered plants across the U.S., including one in Riesel, Texas. Construction on the Riesel plant was scheduled to begin in 2007 according to the Sierra Club.
The purpose of the rally was to build momentum and create awareness for the May 14 meeting, Stone said.
The protestors held signs with slogans which read, "Turn bad coal into smart money", "Cuck Foal" and "Clean coal is a dirty joke."
Stone led the chants and corporate communications senior Jaena Strong blew a whistle to direct the students.
"When the whistle blows, we move to one of the next hot spots on campus and we read off facts about the Dynegy Corporation," Strong said.
The rally was taken across campus and circled back to the library.
History and political science junior Kelly Evans said he thought the message was worth listening to and he’d previously known about the protesters through a social networking Web site.
"I joined their group on Facebook," Evans said. "It’s an important issue that we all have to deal with. If new coal plants are made, the air quality will be horrible in Houston. We are already one of the most polluted cities."
The student protestors returned to the library for the "die-in." Strong blew the whistle, prompting 11 student protestors to collapse on the grass.
"Around the country, students and communities are pushing for Dynegy to invest in wind and solar instead of dirty, polluting coal plants," Stone said. "The CEO of Dynegy is a proud graduate of UH, we have an opportunity to influence what the company does. For more information, visit www.cleanupdynegy.org
