July 31,
2006
Students advocate for holistic approach to sustainability
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| Andrew Hall '07 founded City Cycles, a free bike-borrowing service available to students, faculty, and staff. He has spent the summer looking at ways the University can support a more diversified approach to transportation issues. |
ebecca Neville '06 made the inevitable transition from being an undergraduate to being an alumna in May. Instead of packing her bags and heading off into her bright future to tackle some new challenge in some new place, Neville decided to spend the summer in Rochester adding momentum to what she sees as a campaign for change. She is overseeing a team of student interns who spent 10 weeks exploring ways sustainability can be woven into the University's educational mission.
The project is not only the culmination of Neville's undergraduate career but also of a student-led effort to push for a more integrated approach to sustainability and to begin a dialogue about adopting a University policy on the issue. What the students are proposing, says Neville, is a less project-based, more synthesized view that is reflected in long-range planning, in academic programs, in residential services, in community engagement, and in every other splinter of University life. In no small terms, the students are advocating for what Neville describes as a paradigm shift.
"Right now there are projects going on at the University that address sustainability, but it's very piecemeal," she adds. "We want to make the connections overt and pull together these pockets of energy. I think the University has a great opportunity to create a unique program and to be a leader in sustainability, not just focusing on greening of the campus or developing a single academic program, but having it integrated throughout the institution."
Neville submitted a proposal in the spring to President Joel Seligman, Provost Charles Phelps, and other key members of University administration, requesting funding to assemble a team of sustainability interns that could look more closely at the issue. According to Neville's proposal, the team would outline steps for creating an institute or central sustainability office, and offer a range of ideas for incorporating into five key areas: curriculum, research, residential living, community outreach, and strategic planning.
Neville got her funding and quickly began the work of assembling the group. Julie Voronov '08, Madeleine Cutrona '08, Katie Erickson '07, and David Ladon '06 were selected for the job and spent the summer brainstorming, benchmarking, and planning in a workspace on the third floor of Hylan Hall, complete with computer stations and white boards. A Denver native and anthropology major who will begin his Take Five program in Kenya this the fall looking at downstream energy distribution, Ladon feels the team has laid the foundation for meaningful change and is hopeful that sustainability will emerge as a core value of the University.
"I say look at the University's motto, look at what other schools around the world are doing, and jump on the train," says Ladon. "Give students a chance to use academics as a way to do, to get involved, to be visionary thinkers. After all, what is the purpose of a university? To give us a degree that helps us get a job, or to empower us to do something meaningful for society?"
According to Neville, the interns plan to deliver their final report in late July offering recommendations about how to encourage cross-disciplinary study, support faculty development and research, spur new community partnerships, and educate students about related issues. The team also plans to recommend the creation of a sustainability institute at the University that will oversee continued efforts and offer a forum for more discussion.
Neville's project, perhaps the most broad in its focus, is one of several initiatives addressing sustainability-related issues. Brendon Lyons '08 and Andrew Hall '07 are working with the Office of Facilities and Services on two planning projects this summer. Lyons is examining waste minimization/recycling, and Hall is looking at ways to support diversified modes of transportation for students and commuters, such as bicycles and carpools. Two other students, Patrick Brennan '08 and Sam Boyer '06, have individually pushed for changes in Dining Services, including offering locally grown and organic products and serving Fair Trade-certified coffee on campuses.
There also have been recent projects, supported in part by Grassroots, the student environmental group, focusing on recycling programs, green certification for new building projects, environmental education programs in local schools, and participation in national organizations that focus on sustainability issues within higher education. A more general endorsement came in 2005 when the Students' Association passed a motion supporting the creation of a University sustainability policy.
Hall, who founded City Cycles, a free bike-borrowing service available to students, faculty, and staff, says sustainability has become an academic and political buzzword that pops up often in discussions about environmental activism and social responsibility. For him the esoteric concept boils down to being mindful about choices and making connections beyond those that are obvious.
"Everything around us helps us understand what is normal about our culture. What are the elements of a culture of sustainability? Ultimately, it's about a new way of thinking," says Hall. "Consider diversity, which is a great parallel model. You can hammer away at the issue with projects that focus on hiring practices and with roundtable discussions, but when the University establishes a policy on diversity, that's a huge step in the formation of a culture. Such a statement says clearly that we have embraced the issue."
University Architect Paul Tankel, who is serving as an advisor to Hall this summer and who has been a strong advocate of sustainability efforts for years, says the students are doing phenomenal work. While Tankel points out that the University has made some significant steps in recent years, specifically with initiatives like cogeneration that have reduced overall fuel consumption and lowered air emissions, he agrees that sustainability needs to be an institutional priority.
"If you don't say 'Here's where we're going to go,' then you don't get there. We have to look down the line. When we think of future generations, which is what this place is all about, what type of world are we creating for them?"
Neville, who recently accepted a job teaching marine ecology at an environmental education school in her home state of Maine, says at the heart of this grassroots movement is a recognition of responsibility, both personal and global, both environmental and social.
"Learning and teaching about how humans and ecological life can and will be sustained on Earth is not just a passing fad. This paradigm shift requires a commitment to look critically at how we educate our future generations, and this commitment, or lack thereof, will be the most critical issue facing my generation and the ones to follow. I believe the University has a responsibility to address issues facing the world and to prepare students to engage in that dialogue."
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