University urged to improve
its sustainability measures
Three speakers discussed the importance of
sustainability programs on campuses nationwide
BY JON ITKIN
FREELANCE REPORTER
Three influential figures in the
world of environmental issues
spoke at the University on Thurs
day night as part of “campus sus
tainability month.”
Will Toor, the mayor of Boulder,
Colo., director of the University of
Colorado Environmental Center
and a doctor of physics, spoke
about successes other colleges
have had in reducing their environ
mental impact. He said there is a
myth on some campuses that the
sustainability movement is a “spe
cial interest” and not an interdisci
plinary problem.
Toor said the vast majority
of sustainability programs are gen
erated at the local and state levels,
and within communities them
selves.
“Right now there is a leadership
vacuum in the federal government.
They are not paying attention to
sustainability issues,” he said.
Toor cited global climate
change, the approaching end of
the “oil age” and the decline of
natural ecosystems as the main
reasons why sustainability is a
necessary concept.
Implementing these programs
not only improves quality of life,
it also makes a campus more at
tractive, more successful as a
place of learning and more
financially sound, he said.
He used examples of schools
that have constructed buildings
to optimize energy use and save
money on heating and electricity
costs. Some schools have added
small student fees to generate mon
ey for wind and solar power. Oth
ers have increased parking fees
while rewarding faculty members
who don’t buy parking passes,
Toor said.
The University of Colorado at
Boulder, the California university
system, the New Jersey university
system, Lewis and Clark College
and Oberlin College have all made
major changes to make their oper
ating systems more sustainable,
Toor said.
Associate Professor Bob Doppelt
spoke about using a “systems ap
proach” to sustainable thinking.
Using colorful illustrations and
graphs, Doppelt said too often peo
ple employ a "quick fix” mentality
on sustainability issues, thinking
that scattered, small efforts are
solving the problem.
Doppelt said the best way to deal
with these issues is to consider the
connections between issues across
time and space.
“Martin Luther King said, ‘1 have
a dream.’ He didn’t say ‘1 have a
strategic plan.’” he said.
Doppelt said incorporating sus
tainability into the curriculum,
research and public service is the
best way the way to address the is
sue at the University. Fie is teach
ing a course on systems thinking
next semester.
Joshua Skov, the third and final
speaker, is the research director at
Good Company, a local firm that
consults large institutions on sus
tainability issues.
He said society needs to shift
away from antiquated “big ideas”
and toward a new way of thinking.
He said citizens need to reclaim
shared areas in the world, such as
natural resources, the . broadcast
spectrum and scientific research —
that they need to address problems
when there is a clear, if unproven,
threat to humanity, and that they
need to recognize the benefits of
healthy ecosystems.
Skov cited a study that valued
ecosystem-related services at $33
trillion in 1997.
“If something is irreplaceable,
maybe (a dollar amount) doesn’t
have much meaning,” he said.
The three speakers took ques
tions.
Heidi Richterich, an environ
mental studies major, said she was
interested in the simple methods
the speakers suggested to fund sus
tainability programs.
“It’s remarkable how you can do
little things, how Lewis and Clark
raised fees a little bit to create pro
grams that help in the long term,”
she said.
Jon Itkin is a freelance reporter
for the Daily Emerald
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Danielle Hickey | Photo editor
Tia Dumas, academic adviser of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, helps herself to a plate
of food at the Weaving New Beginnings event on Thursday evening in the EMU Ballroom,
which celebrated multicultural diversity.
Education: Expert argues
desegregation not complete
Continued from page 1
and open their doors to children
of all races.
Though the decision is most often
associated with schoolchildren, it
had direct legal implications for
public institutions of higher educa
tion as well.
Brown v. Board of Education
expert Raymond T. Diamond, who
is the keynote speaker at the convo
cation, said there were at least
17 states that mandated racial seg
regation in institutions of higher ed
ucation before the Brown case.
They too were required to allow
people of all colors to apply to their
institutions.
However, he added that the goal of
desegregating public education has
not been reached.
“Education in this country is not
by and large desegregated at the ele
mentary and secondary level,” said
Diamond, who is also a research pro
fessor of law at Tblane University.
Hallock said much of this segrega
tion occurs because “living patterns
have become segregated.”
Some have similar criticisms of in
stitutions of higher education. Fresh
man Jontae Grace said he didn’t feel
the goals of Brown had been reached
at the University.
“I feel that we’re progressing but
that we have a long way to go,” he
said. “We need more students of
color.”
“The legal equality is intact, but
the social equality hasn’t progressed
as much as people would have
thought," said University philoso
phy professor Naomi Zack, who
will participate in the panel discus
sion today. “One remedy for that is
affirmative action.”
Affirmative action has been an
issue of controversy, especially
with the recent Supreme Court
cases involving the University of
Michigan.
“(Affirmative action) tries to ad
dress institutional equality, which is
the fact that people are not equally
prepared (for college),” Zack said.
Freshman Josue Pena said the is
sue of affirmative action is a diffi
cult one.
“It has a lot of good points, but
some people think it’s unfair,” he
said.
Zack said the fairness of stan
dardized tests used in college
admissions has also come under
fire, with many claiming the tests
are biased against students outside
the mainstream, white, middle-class
culture.
“We’ve heard for years that the
tests are biased,” she said.
She added that one study found
that students of color actually did
better than white students on difficult
SAT questions because they did not
contain words from the white main
stream lexicon.
“(Students of color) do worse on
the easy questions because the pre
vailing words on the easy questions
are going to come out of the main
stream white society,” she said.
While part of the event will exam
ine the shortfalls of the Brown deci
sion, it will also celebrate the great
strides that were made in public edu
cation because of the decision.
Diamond said the landmark deci
sion ultimately, “disestablished a sys
tem of racial caste in the country.”
Pena said he feels the decision
opened up huge opportunities for
himself and other students of color.
“I think it’s definitely the reason
I’m in college now as a student of col
or,” he said.
moriahbalingit@dailyemerald.com