Stanford University has recently been criticized for hiring a public relations firm to boost its image after campus activists raised concerns about the school's ties to Big Oil. The PR firm has a long history of supporting major polluters, sparking outrage among the university's climate advocates.
What's happening?
The Guardian reported that Stanford's sustainability school, which opened in 2022, hired the Brunswick Group — a global PR firm that handles critical business issues — to address its declining reputation.
However, student council members and faculty were not pleased to learn about Brunswick's previous clients, which included energy and oil giants Saudi Aramco and BP, among many other large oil and gas producers.
"I was mad and disappointed," Amanda Campos, a Stanford sophomore and a Doerr School of Sustainability student advisory board member, told the Guardian. She's also active in the Coalition for a True School of Sustainability, which calls for the school to stop accepting funding from oil companies.
Duncan Meisel, executive director of the nonprofit Clean Creatives, agreed that the students were right to be alarmed, telling the outlet: "I think you can make the case that Brunswick's speciality is in greenwashing."
He called the partnership a "conflict of interest," per the Guardian. Meisel believed it could open the door to further public deception if oil and gas companies exploit the relationship to market themselves as environmentally friendly despite the overwhelming evidence that they're a leading contributor to the warming climate.
Why is this concerning?
As Meisel explained, Stanford's relationship with the Brunswick Group may send the wrong message and actually hurt the school's reputation even more.
Thomas Hersbach, a policy fellow at the Doerr School and a student sustainability coalition member, told the Guardian: "The contrast between the school's stated mission, which is to address climate change, and the source of part of that money, which is the people causing climate change — that's just madness."
This isn't the first time the university has come under fire for its affiliation with oil giants, either. According to the student coalition, Doerr has accepted donations from many oil majors, including Chevron, Aramco, Exxon, and Shell. Citing Stanford data, the Guardian reported that polluting fuel companies donated over $68 million for research projects to the schools that are now part of the Doerr School from 2011 to 2023.
According to another report by the Guardian, fossil energy firms have poured millions into academic research in the United States, including at esteemed universities such as the University of California, Berkeley. Louisiana State University and some of the United Kingdom's top-tier schools have also been on the hot seat for accepting millions in questionable donations.
When oil companies are allowed to influence university research, it can create bias in studies and skew the agenda toward climate "solutions" that protect the industry's profits while doing little to nothing to address pollution.
What's being done about this?
Students worldwide are putting pressure on their universities to divest from oil companies and stop allowing them to fund research. According to CBS News, 50 universities, including six with the largest donation amounts, have exited investments with dirty fuel companies.
Student activists at Cambridge also launched a successful campaign to persuade the school to suspend new contributions from oil companies.
We can help by educating ourselves about greenwashing and investing in clean economy stocks that don't harm the planet.
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