MIT students often complain about the administration, a lack of student input, and inadequate representation. We often forget, however, that our decisions can directly impact these outcomes. The upcoming Undergraduate Association presidential elections remain the best way that we, the undergraduates, can voice our opinion.

After Bexley Hall closed last May, members of the dorm united to express a desire for students to have a meaningful voice throughout any remaining developments related to the dorm. Unfortunately, now, in Spring 2014, far too much time has passed without engaged student discourse on the future of the Bexley space. This void highlights a failure on the part of the administration, student leaders, and the entire student body to foster an open, proactive dialogue. Besides simply acknowledging this failure, let’s recognize the Undergraduate Association (UA) elections as a chance to remedy it.

Recently Fossil Free MIT (FFMIT), an MIT student group, has circulated a petition, now with over 2000 signatures, urging the Institute to cease the investment of its endowment in fossil fuel companies. FFMIT is one chapter of Fossil Free, a multinational organization that advocates this position to facilitate broader divestment among institutions that serve the public good. Their ultimate goal is to influence legislation that would implement measures to limit global temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius. While their aspirations are admirable, their strategy is unlikely to work, and their efforts would be better spent advocating clean energy in other ways. Worse, their misguided advocacy could have negative repercussions for MIT and others.