Divest DU brings fresh perspectives on climate change and a call to action to the University of Denver

A view from the University of Denver
Photo by: August Smith

The main mission of Divest DU is to get the University of Denver to stop investing in the fossil fuel industry, which many view as untenable as a future major source of energy. 

Founded at the University of Denver, Divest DU is an on campus student-run organization at the University of Denver self-described as a “student activist organization aiming to push the university to become fossil free,” according to their website mission statement.

The statement continues, “Divest DU organizes campaigns to both divest from fossil fuels and re-invest in renewable energy. Students aim to hold the University of Denver accountable to its mission of “a private university dedicated to the public good” through the lens of climate justice.” 

“DU has invested a lot of money in fossil fuels, and we hope to change that by actively protesting against it,” stated Ally Corradimo, the vice president of Divest DU.

“We have a responsibility to guide our University towards divesting from fossil fuels,” continued Corradimo.

Made up of 4 officers and around 78 overall members according to their website, Divest DU still manages to run many on campus events supporting their cause, such as on campus protests and calls to action to the University. 

The most recent protest occurred on June 3, and was held at Carnegie Green on campus at the University of Denver. Students from another on campus action group called Students Against Investment in Fossil Fuels (SAIFF) also joined the protest.

One student attending the protest stated that “DU has a lot of infrastructure related to being sustainable, and often pushes that message, but has all this money tied up in fossil fuels? It just doesn’t make sense to me.” 

The organization has also performed acts of protest in other ways besides gathering:

In 2020, students from the group hung a large white banner above the Josef Korbel school of International Relations, and called out the University for investing $22.6 million dollars invested into fossil fuel related holdings.

Another member of Divest DU, Martine Gelb, stated that “I am very upset that DU is choosing to invest in a climate disaster instead of protecting the future of its students.” 

The group is targeting the Board of Trustees at the University of Denver, and has been for quite a few years now, but the group is just now garnering a larger quantity of support.  

“We started getting really active in 2020,” continued Gelb. “People really began to care more about the cause, climate change, and the planet overall.” 

Many students feel the same way as Gelb, and it shows. Divest DU sports an instagram page with 610 followers, a good following for an on campus student group. The Facebook page for the group also has 832 likes and 854 followers, a healthy group in size.

However, only 690 people have officially signed the change.org petition for Divest DU, which is a smaller number than is reflected in their online following presence. 

When asked about this discrepancy, Vice President Corradimo stated “It is a lot easier just to have people say they will support a cause than to actually see them do something about it,” 

“We have tried to offer more student friendly ways to support, especially this past year. Our most recent event was an on campus pot luck party to celebrate the achievements of the year,” continued Corradimo. 

Other events held by Divest DU this year included an open mic night and a food and game night, all hosted on campus and in support of the cause.

“I think it is nice that they are trying to get more students involved, but I am skeptical as to how easy it will be to get support during the summer months,” stated Becket Mohns, a student at the University interviewed for his thoughts about Divest DU. 

“I can see support falling off as students return home and could forget about it,” he continued. 

The group leaders, however, maintain their confidence that Divest DU will continue to fight for DU to make the decision to stop investing in fossil fuels. 

“Hopefully the younger classes will be able to take on the torch we are passing and keep protesting for Divest DU in new and meaningful ways,” stated Vice President Corradimo. 

Nina Petrovic gives us a glimpse into the world of a media relations executive

A portrait style photo of Nina Petrovic
Photo by Lisa Truong

For University of Denver alumni Nina Petrovic, every day in the office brings new rewards and challenges, but she is ready for anything. Petrovic works at a public relations firm called Wachsman as a media relations executive.

Born and raised in Denver, Petrovic decided on working as a media relations executive after taking a gap year to visit and work in Beijing, China, and switching her major around a few times.

“I realized I really enjoy story telling and news in general after doing freelance work in audio production in China,” stated Petrovic. 

Petrovic then went on to work as an editorial intern for Westword, a prominent news company based in Denver. 

Now working as a media relations executive for Wachsman, a cryptocurrency and public relations firm, Nina works in a very dynamic workplace. 

“Our overall goal is to build relationships with journalists to come to this firm first when news is reported for crypto,” says Petrovic.

For public relations specialists, the median salary earned as of May 2021 was around $62,800, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is much higher than the 2021 median pay for news analysts, reporters, and journalists, which also according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics is about $48,370 annually.

Petrovic works remotely, and with benefits including healthcare and plenty of paid time off, Petrovic truly enjoys her work.

“Most of my day to day work includes monitoring news every morning from sources such as coin desk, Forbes, and coin telegraph. Then I send information from the news to team for the day, schedule meetings to touch base with the team and clients, create agendas, and decide what news outlets to pitch to clients,” says Petrovic. 

However, not every day is the same, and sometimes challenges do present themselves in this line of work, continued Petrovic. 

“If we have a slower news cycle or cryptocurrency rates plunge, these trends definitely affect our workflow,” stated Petrovic. 

To combat this, every week she compiles market commentary into a summary market recap report, which can be used to help predict trends such as potential slower news cycles. 

There are many things she also enjoys about her position as well: 

“Although we are a public relations firm, we operate like a newsroom,” stated Petrovic.

“Everyone bands together towards our common goal, and the hierarchy of who works above who is less important than reaching our goal,” she continued.

Other things Petrovic is responsible for include deciding what is newsworthy, sending emails with potential stories to journalists, and asking people to interviews with clients. 

“Working with very experienced past journalists who offer me mentorship has made this job much easier,” continued Petrovic. “I really think we have a healthy workplace culture.” 

In terms of necessary skills for media relations, there are quite a few:

“We look for people who are enthusiastic and care about their work. You want to have a readiness to learn, and don’t be scared to ask questions. Have a sense of curiosity, hit the floor running, be outspoken, and be good at networking,” stated Petrovic.

Petrovic also emphasized having an overall growth mindset and to treat mistakes as lessons instead of just errors. 

When asked if she had any advice to those trying to enter the field, Petrovic again responded eloquently:

“The main thing to do to set yourself up for success is to network a lot. Join in on professional conferences, use LinkedIn to chat with professionals, practice writing and content creation as often as you can, and have a portfolio right away,” stated Petrovic. 

Condoleezza Rice speaks on Russia, the Middle East, immigration, and advice for students during Korbel school’s 50th anniversary dinner

Speakers Condoleezza Rice and Christopher Hill
Photo By: August Smith

Condoleeza Rice, the secretary of state from 2005 to 2009, is a distinguished American diplomat. Rice studied at the Josef Korbel school of international studies at University of Denver, and went on to have an important political career thereafter. 

During this hour long keynote interview with dean of the Korbel school Christopher Hill, Rice addressed topics such as the political situations in Russia and the Middle East, immigration in America, and gave advice to students in the Korbel school. 

After some introductory talk, Hill and Rice open up the conversation by talking about Rice’s experience working with the Middle East. 

Rice, speaking about how the states are governed, stated that “these states were held together by somebody oppressing somebody else…either dictators or monarchs kind of holding people together by royal fiat,”. 

Rice outlined a very complex system of governance in the Middle East, asking “when popular pressures and our invasion of Iraq started to break these states apart, and the revolt against Assad in Syria, what’s going to hold them together?” 

The answer, it seems, is very complex. Then, likening the complexities of these political situations to issues concerning Russia, Rice then stated “Vladimir Putin is an example of why just saying sanctions is a mistake,”

“It feels better that we say something about sanctioning them so that they can’t get short term debt for oil and gas investment but the Europeans don’t do the same thing so it actually makes you look weaker to do those things, so what do you do?”. 

Although this interview took place in 2014, these statements are especially relevant today considering the current situation with the war in Ukraine. 

Rice also had some statements regarding Ukraine, again all the way back in 2014. Rice stated in response to the previous quote that “I would arm the Ukrainians…you want to fight in Ukraine, its going to be bloody and you’re not going to like it because we are going to arm the Ukrainians,”. 

However, she also addressed some inadequacies in the Ukrainian government as well, stating that “the Ukrainians need to get their political act together as well,” about 20 minutes in to the interview. 

Moving on to the topic of immigration, Rice dove right in to the issue, stating that “we the people isn’t an exclusive concept,”. 

“We have got to keep importing the talent…40% of all silicon valley startups have at least one foreign founder,” stated Rice about 26 minutes in to the interview. 

Rice’s position clearly supports continuing to accept immigrants from foreign nations, and even more so supports the idea that America has a responsibility to our foreign brothers and sisters.

Rice stated that “the United States is, in our poorest places, a rich country; so we should take responsibility for people who are trapped in poverty,”. 

Finally, Rice took questions from the audience and provided advice to students in the Korbel school. 

“You have to identify yourself and set yourself apart as someone who can do something,” Rice stated when asked about potential strategies to setting oneself apart when breaking in to the professional world. 

“If you can use a statistical model to buttress what you’re doing, you will be much stronger…people use statistics to obfuscate and you have to be able to push through that,” continued Rice. 

When asked about how she could possibly prioritize tasks within such a large amount of work, Rice again offered succinct and realistic advice:

“There are days you don’t get to prioritize…[but] when it’s not that big a crisis I tried…to say at the end of this month these are the 5 things I want to have moved forward,”.

G Jones and friends show off mastery of electronic music during Denver stop of his “Illusory OS” tour

G Jones on stage during his set at Mission Ballroom.

Photo by August Smith

Greg Jones, known as G Jones on stage, has long been a titan of the electronic music scene; but when the COVID-19 pandemic began, it put a complete stop to his tour plans. The show this past weekend at Mission Ballroom in Denver marked one of his first live performances in two years, a spectacle not to be missed.

With a heavy hitting lineup of openers including the likes of Redrum, SHADES (a collaborative music project between EPROM and Alix Perez), and Mr. Carmack, tickets for the show sold out within a month of release. 

The Mission Ballroom doors opened at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 23 for the highly anticipated show, and the room was packed out by 8 p.m. Mission Ballroom is quickly becoming a staple in the Denver music scene since it opened in August 2019.

G Jones curates every lineup for his tour himself, so it was no surprise the room filled up long before his headlining act. Each opener brought their own unique sound and style to the booming JBLs of the venue, earning cheers from the crowd quickly and often. 

Redrum, the first opening act, immediately hurled the crowd into currents of powerful bass and ear tickling percussive riffs, setting the stage beautifully for what was to come. 

Next up was SHADES, a powerhouse collaborative project between U.S. based electronic and freeform artist EPROM and Belgian born drum and bass icon Alix Perez. The two combine to form an incredibly unique style of freeform bass with dubstep roots, marked by absolutely flooring bass riffs and carefully curated sound design composition.   

SHADES displaying their logo at Mission Ballroom.

Photo by August Smith

Up third was Mr. Carmack, a legendary producer and DJ, whose range of genres and mixing abilities seemed to stretch endlessly and creatively. Carmack displayed a plethora of musical styles such as trap, drum and bass, and freeform bass, ultimately playing the most expansive set of the night genre-wise. 

Finally, the headlining act arrived. G Jones’ set was flat out flooring creatively, both in audial and visual aspects. Jones played his trademark “DJ Set”, meaning he selects a mixture of his own original music as well as music from other producers. 

When asked what his favorite set of the night was, fellow concert-goer and music buff Colin Kraft immediately replied: “SHADES was by far my favorite act of the night. Everything about their set was awesome to see in a live setting, and I got to hear some of my favorite tracks of theirs also,”. 

Moreover, he followed his statement up with a supplementary opinion on G Jones set: “G Jones definitely impressed me in a few ways, especially his mastery of glitch textures and acid-style drums,” stated Kraft. 

Another concert goer, Patrick Felberg, favored Mr. Carmack’s set heavily. “Carmack played so many genres of music and blended them so effortlessly, it was a gift to get to see a master of mixing and DJing at work,” stated Felberg. 

“DU students weigh in on the future of transportation: electric or gasoline?”

A local gas station showing a price of almost 4 dollars a gallon.
Photo by August Smith.

The question of whether electric or hybrid vehicles can be a sustainable replacement for gasoline powered ones has been prominent in recent years, and as climate change continues to occur, the question is beginning to carry more weight.