Harvard-Yale Football Game Delayed as Climate Change Activists Take Field
Written by SOURCE on November 24, 2019
The second half of the Harvard vs. Yale football game was delayed by close to an hour after spectators rushed the field to advocate for action against climate change.
After the Yale band finished its halftime performance, students from both schools flooded the field. Protestors held banners asking the colleges to act on climate change and send debt relief to Puerto Rico. One sign read: “Nobody wins. Yale & Harvard are complicit in climate injustice.” The students also chanted, “Hey hey, ho ho, fossil fuels have got to go.”
According to ESPN‘s Jack Ford, some protestors were tying themself together and asking the police to arrest them.
Harvard and Yale have a 136-year rivalry called “The Game.” The protest was reportedly put together by the group Divest Harvard to disrupt this specific contest. The group’s spokesperson, Caleb Schwartz, says the demonstration took months of coordination.
“This is a very deliberate choice of targeting this specific [game] to get our action out there,” Schwartz said.
The players were preparing to take the field when the protest began. The coaches and athletes were forced to return to the locker room until officials were able to clear the field. The half time began at close to 1:40 p.m. ET. But, the game didn’t resume until 2:48 p.m. when police were able to escort protestors off the field.
