At the end of Tuck Mall, nestled between the Thayer School of Engineering and the Tuck School of Business, stands the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society. According to its website, the Irving Institute is committed to accelerating a clean energy transition. The Institute itself is one of the College’s three LEED-Platinum certified buildings, the highest rating for energy efficiency awarded by the Green Building Council. Despite the building’s environmentally-focused mission, however, Irving shares its name with a gas station down the road on Main Street.
The naming of the building dates back to 2016 when the College received an $80 million endowment gift to found the Institute from Irving Oil, the Arthur L. Irving Family Foundation, Arthur L. Irving, Sandra L. Irving and Sarah Irving ’10 Tu ’14. Over the past year, the Institute’s source of funding has become a point of contention on campus. On Oct. 23, 2023, Fossil Free Dartmouth, a climate activist student organization, published “Investigating Irving,” a critique that raised concerns over greenwashing — in which fossil fuel companies use donations to improve their image — and the presence of fossil fuel industry officials on the Irving Institute’s Advisory Board.
In a survey conducted by The Dartmouth, 81.6% of respondents said they believe it is somewhat or very important to know the funding sources for campus buildings. Additionally, 74.45% of respondents reported being aware of the Irving Institute’s connection to Irving Oil before taking The Dartmouth’s survey; 24.82% were not.
Maya Beauvineau ’26, a co-author of the Investigating Irving report, said she believes fossil-funded research “can push back the energy transition.” Beauvineau explained that she believes energy research could be influenced similarly to how tobacco industry-funded studies in the 1950s mitigated the harmful effects of smoking.
The Investigating Irving report did not find any instances of faculty being influenced by the fossil fuel industry, according to past reporting by The Dartmouth.
In response to the concerns expressed by students, the Irving Institute crafted a set of principles for their website which outline their mission of accelerating an “affordable, reliable and equitable clean energy transition,” according to Geoffrey Parker, Irving’s interim faculty director. Parker added that while there has not been any evidence of sponsorship bias, Irving has strengthened its guidelines regarding academic freedom and transparency.
“The Institute tries to expose students to complex systems and complex politics with really diverse stakeholders,” Parker said. “I think it’s important to look at what we’re doing and evaluate us on that.”
The naming of the Irving Institute, however, has been interpreted by some, including Fossil Free Dartmouth, as part of a national greenwashing trend. An April 2024 congressional report found that the fossil fuel industry “strategically partners with universities to lend an aura of credibility to its deception campaigns while also silencing opposition voices.”
According to The Dartmouth’s survey, respondents had mixed reactions to the Irving Institute’s funding sources. In all, 48.5% of those surveyed reported that their opinions of the Institute were impacted negatively by the fact that Irving Oil financed the Institute — 6.6% of respondents’ perceptions were positively impacted, while 44.9% remained unchanged.
Harper Richardson ’27, a steering committee organizer for Fossil Free Dartmouth, expressed discontent over the sources of Irving’s funding. Regardless of what she called the “wonderful programs” offered by the Institute, Richardson said she believes “it is not right” for Irving Oil to attach its name to green solutions while continuing “to profit off of the climate crisis.”
“[Students] have a gut reaction that [the source of Irving’s funding] isn’t right,” she said. “We hear enough from the fossil fuel industry. We know their history of misinformation, of not caring about the population rather than just caring about their bottom line and we know that that’s going to be their top priority as long as they exist.”
Parker, however, argued that, regardless of the Institute's source of funding, its work in green energy spaces speaks for itself.
“Look at the research that we’re funding, the programming that we’re doing, the activities, the classes that we’re mounting,” Parker said. “ I mean, we just have a new master’s program [in] energy transition, which is literally all about transitioning off of fossil fuels, and that’s how we’re using the gift of the Irving family, and, of course, you know the many other donors who contributed.”
Despite her beliefs, Richardson acknowledged there has been “no evidence” of funding from Irving Oil influencing energy-related research at Dartmouth. She also explained that her concerns lie with the Institute’s funding, adding that “the work that goes on [at the Irving Institute],” and “the people that work there are fantastic.”
“[The faculty and staff of Irving] should not have the burden of trying to prove … day in and day out, that their work is not impacted by oil … that they care about truly phasing out fossil fuels and stopping the climate crisis as rapidly as we can,” she said.
Despite ideological divisions, Parker explained that he appreciates the passion and intellectual curiosity of the students who express discontent with the Institute’s financing. Their willingness to ask challenging questions is reflective of their Dartmouth education, he added.
Within a week of assuming his current role at Irving, Parker said he ran into a group of students protesting outside the building — where he was able to convey his appreciation.
“I said ‘Oh, you threw me a protest as a welcome party,’” he said. “So we all laughed, but then… I said, ‘look, I mean, you are all incredibly passionate, super smart people, and you’re picking out something to look into on your own time, because you're committed.’ If we can’t celebrate that as a liberal arts and, you know, just as an Institute of higher ed[ucation], then you know, what are we doing? So of course, I celebrate that.”
