A few weeks ago, all IU students were invited to share their thoughts/suggestions for the draft of Indiana University's Bicentennial Strategic Plan. Administrators purport that this document will guide the strategic planning efforts of all IU campuses for the next two hundred years (!!), though it reads much more like a five- or ten-year plan. That's quite alright with me, actually, but there is one other pretty huge problem I see with the plan (which I'll get to in a minute). To share my input, I attending the public meeting with Director of Strategic Planning, Michael Rushton, and Provost and Executive Vice President, Lauren Robel, on November 18th.
Rushton and Robel
First, when the Bicentennial Strategic Plan was emailed to all members of the IU community, I set out to explore what our campus administrators had to say about sustainability as a means of addressing the environmental, economic, and social challenges of our future. What I found was that the report outlines seven "Bicentennial Priorities," followed by a four-part section on the "Framework of Excellence." One part of this framework is "Building for Excellence," a section that focuses on IU's infrastructure and facilities. Here, there are "Bicentennial Action Items" and "Continuing Priorities." The last of five "Continuing Priorities" states exactly this:
"Continue and expand efforts to make all IU campuses more energy efficient and sustainable"
Wait, wait...that's it?? In a 41 page report, I have to wait until page 33 to read this one measly, vague sentence about sustainability?!
Unforunately, there is no other mention of the grand environmental challenges that IU will face in the next two centuries. Luckily, administrators asked for input. It sounds like they received many electronically-submitted comments lamenting this oversight. I also know that Provost Robel also took the time to meet with the Campus Sustainability Advisory Board about their recommendations. I jumped at the chance to talk face-to-face with Rushton and Robel at the meeting for comments on the 18th.
Oddly, this meeting was held in a tiny conference room in the Indiana Memorial Union, meant to seat ~30 people. The room filled up quickly, though, and at maximum attendance during the meeting, there were probably about 55 or 60 people squeezed in. The group seemed to be overwhelmingly composed of faculty members, and those who shared their comments had a wide variety of things to say about the future of teaching, the health and well-being of all members of the community, strategies for engagement, and much more. From what I could see, there were only three students in attendance (out of 30,000+...eek!), but luckily, each of us felt empowered to speak up.
I was nervous to talk at first, because I knew how important this issue was. I didn't know if I could articulate my thoughts clearly and convincingly enough to make any real impact. So I started scribbling down some thoughts. I decided to ask questions, because most everyone in the room who just made comments got simple, "Thank you for that thought" responses. I prepared the most challenging questions I could think of (HA!), and did some power-posing in my seat to prepare. (Try it before your next big presentation!) After I was called on, my hands started to shake immediately. I took a big breath, thanked Rushton and Robel for seeking student feedback, and calmly posed these two questions:
Yep.
Unforunately, there is no other mention of the grand environmental challenges that IU will face in the next two centuries. Luckily, administrators asked for input. It sounds like they received many electronically-submitted comments lamenting this oversight. I also know that Provost Robel also took the time to meet with the Campus Sustainability Advisory Board about their recommendations. I jumped at the chance to talk face-to-face with Rushton and Robel at the meeting for comments on the 18th.
Oddly, this meeting was held in a tiny conference room in the Indiana Memorial Union, meant to seat ~30 people. The room filled up quickly, though, and at maximum attendance during the meeting, there were probably about 55 or 60 people squeezed in. The group seemed to be overwhelmingly composed of faculty members, and those who shared their comments had a wide variety of things to say about the future of teaching, the health and well-being of all members of the community, strategies for engagement, and much more. From what I could see, there were only three students in attendance (out of 30,000+...eek!), but luckily, each of us felt empowered to speak up.
I was nervous to talk at first, because I knew how important this issue was. I didn't know if I could articulate my thoughts clearly and convincingly enough to make any real impact. So I started scribbling down some thoughts. I decided to ask questions, because most everyone in the room who just made comments got simple, "Thank you for that thought" responses. I prepared the most challenging questions I could think of (HA!), and did some power-posing in my seat to prepare. (Try it before your next big presentation!) After I was called on, my hands started to shake immediately. I took a big breath, thanked Rushton and Robel for seeking student feedback, and calmly posed these two questions:
"Without any attention to environmental and sustainability challenges in this Bicentennial Plan, what is the IU community to assume about how the administration plans to address the increasingly salient challenges of resource scarcity, climate change, environmental injustices, and the myriad of other sustainability challenges our world will face in the coming years, decades, and centuries?" --and--
"If not now, through incorporation of a sustainability-related bicentennial priority or primary action items tied to each aspect of IU's Mission and day-to-day operations, when and how should plans be made to assure that IU does not fall behind in doing our part to address global environmental challenges?"
MAN, was I nervous! But I made it through, and sparked a pretty good conversation. Provost Robel expressed gratitude for the hard work being done by Office of Sustainability staff, and some other faculty members chimed in to confirm that this was not just a student concern. He said that many faculty members agree that sustainability should be incorporated much more comprehensively into the Bicentennial Strategic Plan!
Overall, the planning meeting was a bit of a whirlwind. Administrators were basically just hit with criticism for an hour and a half, and they handled it pretty well. For now, that's all I can really say...we'll have to wait and see what the next draft of the plan looks like. Hopefully we'll see some pretty major changes with more comprehensive acknowledgement of environmental issues as a key concern for coming centuries of excellence at Indiana University. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: IU adopts nearly all Bicentennial Plan content suggestions from the Campus Sustainability Advisory Board!! New and noteworthy:
Overall, the planning meeting was a bit of a whirlwind. Administrators were basically just hit with criticism for an hour and a half, and they handled it pretty well. For now, that's all I can really say...we'll have to wait and see what the next draft of the plan looks like. Hopefully we'll see some pretty major changes with more comprehensive acknowledgement of environmental issues as a key concern for coming centuries of excellence at Indiana University. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: IU adopts nearly all Bicentennial Plan content suggestions from the Campus Sustainability Advisory Board!! New and noteworthy:
- "Sustainability, stewardship and accountability for the natural, human, and economic resources and relationships entrusted to IU" is now a Core Value of the university (!!!)
- All future IU building construction projects must meet standards for LEED Certification at the GOLD level!
- Read about all this and more in the final text HERE
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