From nome de guerre

History was recently made by a group of students at Champlain. Environmental Club members: Lauren Swanson, Mike Mullins, Justine Riegel, Andrew Nordstrom, Thomson Nguyen, Jillian DelVecchio and Ryan Phillips presented at the last Faculty Senate meeting and challenged the professors to “Green” up and incorporate sustainability into their curriculum. This was the first time students have presented to the faculty during a Senate meeting.

These students were not asking their professors to completely revamp their curriculum, but urging them to think about sustainability and incorporating into their assignments. Some of the ideas were simple changes such as utilizing the online web tool Angel more frequently instead of printing all assignments and using less paper in general. Creating some classes geared towards sustainability such as; an environmental law class, an outdoor education class, or a class geared toward environmentally friendly business practices. One idea was to bring in speakers in various green jobs in each major and elaborate on the green jobs that are available in each major. Another suggestion was to utilize e-books more often or check the new editions of books to make sure it is truly beneficial to the students to buy a new edition.

Hopefully this presentation made an impact on the faculty. Students do care about the impact their learning has on the environment and want to make a change.

-Justine Riegel

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