Funding Transparency & Restrictions

All restricted gifts to the American Studies Department from for profit and nonprofit entities shall be listed on the American Studies Department’s website, until the Office of Development and Alumni Relations institutes an aligned university-wide funding transparency policy.


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The American Studies Department will not accept any funding for departmental activities from sources blocking a just energy transition, as defined below.

For the purposes of this resolution, funding from the fossil fuel industry, its direct or indirect affiliates, and other aligned interests will be prohibited if they meet one or more of the following criteria:

• They are constructing, or facilitating the construction of, new fossil fuel infrastructure
• They are engaged in exploring, or facilitating the exploration of, new fossil fuel reserves. 
• They engage directly in, or retain memberships with trade associations engaged in, political lobbying against climate legislation that would advance the Paris Agreement goal of preventing global warming beyond 1.5°C. 
• They are a corporation or nonprofit that supports, directly or indirectly, the creation and dissemination of climate disinformation, defined as knowingly spreading false information with the intent to deceive or mislead the public regarding the causes and effects of the climate crisis.

Potential funders that meet these criteria include, but are not limited to, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, and the top ten funders of the Climate Change Counter Movement.

**Resolutions of the GWU American Studies Department are approved by a vote of at least two-thirds of the voting faculty.