ConocoPhillips Tries to Buy Into 'Big Oil U' in Greenwash Campaign

Disturbing Trend Must be Stopped to Preserve Academic Integrity at U.S.

Colleges, Consumer Advocates Warn

    SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --
 ConocoPhillips, with a $6 million gift to the University of Oklahoma's
 School of Geology and Geophysics, is the latest oil giant seeking to buy
 respectability by capitalizing on the name of a well-known university, the
 Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) said today.
     A deal at Stanford University funded by ExxonMobil, and another
 proposed by BP at the University of California Berkeley are already facing
 criticism as examples of "Big Oil U".
     "Big Oil, an industry that has made billions at the expense of the
 environment, is trying to clean up its deservedly dirty image by
 associating with well-known universities," said John M. Simpson, consumer
 advocate with FTCR. "Independent academic activities are too important to
 let them be sold to Big Oil companies that want to greenwash their image."
     In return for the $6 million in oil money, University of Oklahoma
 President David L. Boren said he would recommend to the board of regents
 that the school be renamed the ConocoPhillips School of Geology and
 Geophysics. The university said the money would be used to fund
 scholarships and "to endow a visiting faculty position, allowing the school
 to recruit individuals from the energy industry or other institutions to
 spend a semester or a year and to help OU stay current with the latest
 innovations in petroleum geology, geology and geophysics."
     Read the OU announcement here:
 http://www.ou.edu/publicaffairs/ConocoPhillips.shtml
     "For a paltry $6 million, Conoco gets naming rights to the school and
 an industry friendly professor to spout their warped view of the world in
 an academic environment. We call on the regents to reject this deal," said
 Simpson.
     Stanford University's Global Climate and Energy Program receives $100
 million from ExxonMobil. The oil giant has recently launched an advertising
 campaign touting its involvement with the university. Movie producer Steve
 Bing, a Stanford alumnus, was so appalled by the campaign that he canceled
 a $2 million pledge to the school.
     Meanwhile, UC Berkeley is negotiating a $500 million deal with BP to
 create the Energy Biosciences Institute on campus. Many people both on and
 off campus have urged university officials and the regents to ensure that
 BP cannot inappropriately use the school's image in its advertising and the
 university maintain control of the results of the discoveries made at the
 institute.
     "Big Oil has an image problem," said Simpson. "We simply cannot allow
 them to fix it by turning our respected colleges and universities into 'Big
 Oil U'."
     The nonpartisan, nonprofit Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights
 (FTCR) is a leading consumer watchdog group. For more information, visit us
 on the web at: http://www.ConsumerWatchdog.org
 
 

SOURCE Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights