Harvard-Yale Football Game Delayed After Students Storm Field for Climate Change Protest

A group of more than 150 people caused a 48-minute delay at the annual Harvard-Yale football game after storming the field for a climate change protest.

The Ivy League game at the Yale Bowl was delayed at the beginning of the second quarter of the game, according to CBS Sports, after students and alumni from both schools charged the field with protest signs for a sit-in.

The group was protesting for the colleges to divest from oil, gas and coal companies and to stop funding them as they contribute to the issue of climate change, the Guardian reported.

As the group walked onto the field, students were carrying a large sign that read “Nobody Wins: Yale & Harvard Are Complicit In Climate Injustice.”

At the same time, students and alumni cheered “Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Fossil fuels have got to go!” the Guardian reported, while the packed house was heard booing in the background.

“They believe that they can engage with these companies and get them to change their fundamentally extractive business models, which we think comes from a place of naivety amounting to gross negligence,” Yale student, Nora Heaphy, told the outlet.

“It’s absurd to make those kinds of claims. So since then our campaign has moved away from administrative engagement, recognizing that it is often a stalling tactic,” she said.

This isn’t a new demand from students — many groups on campus began protesting the divestment from fossil fuel companies in 2012. The goal is that if such major universities like Harvard and Yale halt their funding, other institutions will follow suit.

The game was delayed until sunset, despite the fact that the Yale football field does not boast floodlights, the Guardian added.

Many of the protestors left the field voluntarily and were escorted by police officers, however, a few who refused to leave were told they would be arrested.

The two Ivy League teams are currently tied 36-36 in the fourth quarter.