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COLUMBIA - Student activists at the University of Missouri are taking their fight for a coal-free campus to the school's board of curators.

The Coal Free Mizzou student group wants university leaders to commit to using renewable energy to completely power the campus by 2015. They plan a coal-free demonstration on Thursday when the university governing board begins its two-day meeting on the Columbia campus.

Students say Missouri has an obligation to stop burning coal because it has a detrimental effect on human health and the environment. The school used more than 48,000 tons of coal to generate electricity in 2007, accounting for 80 percent of campus energy use.

The student effort is part of a national Sierra Club campaign that focuses on coal use at U.S. universities.