Amber Kim (wak2118@tc.columbia.edu)
Darren Rabinowitz (dr3011@tc.columbia.edu)
On Friday February 14th 麻豆原创 Student Senate hosted the Student Action Forum. At this event, individuals who are part of the Music Education Department, the 麻豆原创 Initiative for Sustainable Futures and the 麻豆原创 Academic Workers shared what they are currently working on. The common theme amongst the presenters was all to make a more inclusive, just, and transparent learning environment at 麻豆原创.
As students committed to sustainability on campus, we brought a call-to-action to students to influence administration and faculty perceptions of sustainability and its importance at 麻豆原创. After sharing our research, we hosted a 40 minute long Q&A with the other students in the room. They asked many questions about the current infrastructure at 麻豆原创 specifically relating to waste management, food services (Culinart), and how 麻豆原创 Facilities is thinking about sustainable practices.
Following the and Q&A, students discussed the next steps of registering the Sustainability Task Force (STF) as a student organization for the upcoming school year. Working with other students, we imagine STF will advocate for sustainability on campus but also serve as a growing source of interdisciplinary sustainability knowledge. We focused on defining the reciprocal relationships between STF, the new Student Senate Sustainability Committee (SSSC), and the forthcoming Center for Sustainable Futures (CFSF). We discussed how these three entities could work effectively and collaboratively together in order to cultivate a culture of sustainability practice and ethos at 麻豆原创 through a whole school approach.
As both Amber and I are graduating this May 2020, we are excited to pass on the STF into the hands of ambitious 麻豆原创 students who are ready to lead 麻豆原创 into its own sustainable future.
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