Ben Franta, a Stanford PhD student, has some unfortunate news for us on Twitter. This morning, Ben attended a meeting of the Stanford University faculty senate as they prepared to vote on whether they would recommend divestment from fossil fuels to the board of trustees. Surprisingly, “They voted overwhelmingly to *keep* investing in fossil [fuel]s”.

Ben makes a great point about the pernicious influence of oil money. If Stanford’s faculty doesn’t want to recommend divestment because they’re afraid they could lose funding, do you think they’ll be brave enough to push research that could be damaging to the fossil fuel industry?

This is how the powers that be maintain the status quo. They seek out the people you trust –– those with influence, and prestige. Then they buy them out. As a leading research university, Stanford is trusted by most Americans. Few would suspect that they care about what the oil industry thinks. But apparently, they do.

Always question all sources of information and remember to examine the sources of bias behind them.

P.S. Remember, this vote wouldn’t have even decided whether Stanford would divest from fossil fuels. It was merely a recommendation to the Board of Trustees.