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About The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2012)
4 • The Southwest Portland Post FEATURES November 2012 Students ask Lewis & Clark College to remove coal from investments By Jillian Daley The Southwest Portland Post Lewis & Clark College is known for its robust environmental studies program for undergraduates and respected en- vironmental law program for graduate students. Students involved in the Divest Coal Campaign at Lewis & Clark say there’s at least one more thing their school could do to improve its status as an eco-friendly school: Remove coal from its endowment investment holdings. Last month, the group delivered to College president Barry Glassner about 800 signatures from undergraduate stu- dents who support their cause. That’s a good chunk of the 2,141 un- dergraduate students that U.S. News & World Report’s 2013 edition of Best Colleges said are enrolled at the 137-acre campus at 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road. “We need to invest more in clean energy or the planet is going to spiral down,” said Lewis & Clark senior Fiona Murray, who signed a petition during the campaign’s field day exhibit on Oct. 4 in front of Templeton Student Center. Last month, Michelle Kim and other Divest Coal Campaign leaders at the College invited Glassner to sit down with them to discuss the matter, and he said he could meet with them in late November. The students asked to meet with him sooner. “We don’t want to be put on the back- burner,” Kim said. Glassner forwarded campaign leaders to Anna Gonzalez, the dean of students, who was scheduled to meet with the Divest Coal Campaign students late last month. “We’re proud of the rigorous environ- mental programs we offer here at Lewis & Clark,” said Tom Krattenmaker, as- sociate vice president of Public Affairs and Communications at the College. “Beyond that, we have no comment.” Kim said the College needs to stand up against the dirty coal industry, citing a Physicians for Social Responsibility report in 2009. The report links coal to four out of five of the leading causes of death in the nation: heart disease, can- cer, stroke and chronic lower respiratory diseases. The industry impacts health because coal combustion releases hazardous substances including mercury, particu- late matter, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, says the report. More than 386,000 tons of 84 hazard- ous air pollutants are emitted from the nation’s more than 400 coal plants, ac- cording to an American Lung Associa- tion report in March 2011. Kim said it is contradictory for a college that aims to educate its students on environmental issues to invest in coal. She said no oth- er Oregon college has a coal dives- titure campaign, although Reed College students recently evinced interest in launch- Michelle Kim, one of the organizers of the Divest Coal Cam- ing a campaign paign participates in a field day exhibit in front of Templeton a f t e r h e a r i n g Student Center at Lewis & Clark College, Oct. 4. (Post photo about Lewis & by Jillian Daley) Clark’s efforts. sibility, is what helped ignite the Divest Lewis & Clark’s campaign is part Coal Campaign at Lewis & Clark. of a national effort involving about 40 Kim said she wishes to further not campuses. The Divest Coal Campaign only the College’s campaign but also the has its roots in the Energy Action Coali- nationwide movement. One campaign, tion, founded in 2005. It is a coalition of at Hampshire College, as of late October 50 youth-led environmental and social had gotten its administration to nix coal justice groups working for clean energy from its endowment. Kim said if Lewis and against climate change through col- & Clark succeeds it would boost the laborative campaigns, according to the private liberal arts college’s reputation. group’s website. “It would be a big win for us and a big Its coalition partners include As You loss for coal,” she said. For more infor- Sow, a group in which Kim is involved. mation, go to www.wearepowershift. Her involvement in As You Sow, a org/campaigns/divestcoal. group that promotes corporate respon- Maplewood Notebook During a public safety presentation Oct. 10, Portland Police Officer Scott Foster told Maplewood neighbors that he had received complaints about coyotes in Southwest. (Post photo by Jillian Daley) (Continued from Page 1) The church will be collecting items not eligible for curbside recycling: rigid plastic, batteries, block Styro- foam, corks, printer cartridges, light bulbs and small appliances. For more information, visit www.community- recycling.org. Triangle Weeding and Planting: From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 3 and 11, volunteers are invited to help pull weeds and plant native vegetation at the Triangle, about 100 square feet of land at Southwest 55 th Avenue and Nevada Court. Tools will be provid- ed. Gaddis recommended bringing gloves, sturdy shoes and rain gear. The Maplewood Neighborhood As- sociation meeting is now being held on the second Wednesday of the month at a new location, the Maplewood Elementary School library, 7452 SW 52nd Ave. The next meeting is Wednesday, November 14 at 6:45 p.m. For more information on MNA activities and events, email maple- wood@gmail.com. Multnomah Blvd Sidewalks (Continued from Page 2) 25 th Avenue there will be a pedestrian crossing with a flashing yellow beacon. There will be a final public meeting on the project in April, Ross said. Project Manager Rich Newlands of the Bureau of Transportation confirmed this information. The project will cost approximately $4 million, and is cur- rently the subject of negotiations with the Bureau of Environmental Services as to “who will pay for what.” This may change some features of the project but not its certainty, Newlands assured The Post. PBOT expects to go out for bid on the project and will begin construction in “early spring,” he said. Editor’s Note: This will be the third con- struction project in as many years along this beleaguered stretch of road. But neighbors are excited about the prospect of being able to use the new Multnomah Boulevard side- walks to walk from Multnomah Village to the new Safeway store under construction at Barbur Boulevard and Capitol Hill Road. — Don Snedecor Coming in the December Edition... What do Hollywood femme fatale Mayo Methot and Nu Café waitress Vivian Robinson have in common? Find out next month as The Post follows paranormal investigator Clyde Lewis and his Ground Zero crew on a ghost hunt in Multnomah Village.