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.

On April 17th, 2009, the
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