You may remember walking past tents staked out on the Residential Quad last semester with a banner declaring the sleeping students' cause: The Leadership Campaign. Students slept out on the Tufts campus from late October to early November in an effort to get legislation introduced in the Massachusetts legislature calling for 100 percent clean electricity in the state by 2020. What you may not have been aware of was that our effort on campus is part of a larger statewide effort, as members of the group Students for a Just and Stable Future (formerly MAPS).
You may also be unaware that on Sunday nights during this period Tufts students and students from other Massachusetts colleges, including Northeastern University, Boston University, Boston College, Harvard University and Clark University, among others, gathered in the same tents but on the Boston Commons in front of the Massachusetts State House. All done with the intent of garnering attention from legislators for our bill, the tactic was not only visible — we did receive media attention — but also controversial.
The Boston Commons closes at 11 p.m., so sleeping there all night was an obvious, but calculated, violation of that rule. As a result, the Boston Police arrived in the early hours of Monday mornings to take the information of each of the trespassers, which could range from 60 to 120 students depending on the night. At the end of last semester, participants began receiving in the mail summonses to a hearing before a magistrate for trespassing.
Throughout the campaign, the National Lawyers Guild has worked with Students for a Just and Stable Future and been supportive of our cause. They have been especially crucial in striking a deal with the courts that was, some would argue, to our benefit. This settlement involves paying a fine of $50 to the Boston Municipal Court for each instance a participant was cited by police officers. In return for this payment, all criminal charges are being dropped against us and we have been assured that we can tell future employers that our records are clean.
Court appearances began last Monday and will continue to today. Based on e-mails issued from the National Lawyers Guild, approximately 14 Tufts students are scheduled to appear in court, some with as many as five citations. In all, about 200 participants are expected in court to pay their fines. While the charges for each instance of trespassing seem to have varied by the day last week, some students have or will have to pay up to $250, if not more, for their role in protesting.
College, especially at a university like Tufts, is expensive as it is, so shelling out more money to fight for a cause you believe in says a great deal about the campaign's participants. Despite the setbacks we have faced, in particular this legal dispute, students have remained optimistic. Some students have even expressed unlikely hopes that the state will put their money to good use, installing solar panels on the Massachusetts State House or building wind turbines. If this were the case, we would literally be paying for a just and stable future, which while inefficient, would at least be fruitful.
That is not to say, however, that our efforts have been fruitless. In fact, they have led to a bill being introduced in the Massachusetts legislature. An Act to Create a Repower Massachusetts Emergency Task Force, albeit a modified version of our progressive bill, would not commit the state to 100 percent clean electricity by 2020 as we had originally hoped, but would instead create a task force that would determine how it is possible for the state to reach that goal. This bill was introduced by State Representative William Brownsberger (D-Belmont) and was just released from the U.S. Senate Committee on Ethics and Rules. This is great news for our campaign because it means that our bill has moved forward to the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Ethics.
But our fight is not over. If the bill is not released from this committee, then it will not move on to the general assembly for debate and will have no chance of being passed. That is why we are asking students to help push this bill through the committee by calling the two co-chairs of the committee, State Rep. Barry Finegold (D-Essex) and State Sen. Michael Morrissey (D-Norfolk), and telling them that you support this bill.
We are not asking for a lot from students or from our legislators. This bill, while a clear step forward for Massachusetts, does not signify a big commitment for the state. If the Massachusetts legislature cannot see fit to pass a bill that only creates a task force to determine how the state can reduce its emissions, and respond to the increasing demand for action on the climate change front, then it has no place being considered a leader.
The opportunity is now for the state to take action and make headway in achieving a just and stable future, but it will require that we show our support in passing this bill. If you are interested in contributing to this campaign, please call these legislators. There is even a "Call Your State Legislators" event on Facebook.com that provides their phone numbers, as well as a short script. If you want additional information, you can contact the Boston Legislative Coordinator of our campaign at Drew.Fuchs@gmail.com.
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Chelsea Hogan is a sophomore majoring in chemistry and environmental studies. She is a media coordinator for the Tufts chapter of The Leadership Campaign.
