From Joel Batterman, Senior at Reed College in Portland, OR
Students at Reed College in Portland, Oregon have been working to green their campus for years. In the past decade, they’ve established an Environmental Studies major, composting program, organic farm, and sustainability grant fund. The Student Senate has called on the College to hire a Sustainability Coordinator and develop a carbon reduction plan. Yet despite students’ repeated entreaties, Reed President Colin Diver continues to resist such action on the grounds of defending the College’s “political neutrality.”
Their patience wearing thin, concerned Reed students crashed a question and answer session with the President at the College’s Parents Weekend. Using humor to leaven a deadly serious thesis, they sent a clear message that Reed has a moral responsibility to clean up its act, all to the tune of “American Pie,” as seen in the video above.
Way to go! That take some courage to just walk up there. Just goes to show that activists can take over situations and get a message across.
Keep stepping up the student action!
Joel you are my new favorite person! That was awesome!
You guys are my favorite! I’m so proud of you all.
Here at the University of Oregon, we at least have a plan, but it is woefully incomplete.
We need to get our creative jusices flowing too!!
Way to go, Joel and everyone! What amazing creativity and a great way to get the president’s attention!
woot woot! Let’s start an alumni angle and get the Dive to finally DO something!!
I’m so glad to see that this campaign is going strong.
Yehaw. No. As a student of reed college, I implore you not to continue to act as if you represent Reedies. I support action against climate change, but the college isn’t the place for it.
I can’t say that the performance represents the views of every single Reed student. (Indeed, you’ve just demonstrated that it doesn’t!) But I think it’s beyond question that the vast majority of Reed students support what we’re trying to advance.
Otherwise, I doubt that last year’s renewable energy initiative would have passed with over two-thirds of the vote in the student body election. Or that nearly four hundred individual students, plus a unanimous Student Body Senate, would have given their support to the Sustainability Commitment Greenboard drafted.
Colleges can’t end climate change on their own, but they can be part of the solution. As the President says, Reed isn’t a “social justice institution,” and I doubt that it ever becomes one. The question is whether we’re willing to take responsibility for what we ourselves do, or pass it off as someone else’s problem. I think we should try for the former, and I’m confident most Reedies agree.
Sasha, we’re counting on you to head up the alumni campaign! I know how lucrative the job of climate organizing can be …maybe you could lend us some seed money?