College Needs to Clean Up its Environmental Act

To the Editor:

We are writing to inform Oberlin’s student body of a report that has been submitted to the College president, and to urge the administration to promptly review the report and take action. The document we refer to is titled, “Taking Responsibility: Developing Strategies Toward Environmental Restoration and Sustainability at Oberlin College.” 
As student representatives on the president’s advisory committee on the environment we had the opportunity to co-author the report along with a dozen or so members of the College faculty and staff. “Taking Responsibility” outlines policy recommendations in five specific categories: energy, facilities construction and renovation, grounds, materials and transportation.
The Committee believes that Oberlin College should continue to set the standard when it comes to dealing with social and ethical dilemmas, as has been its history, and that environmental degradation is one such problem. The College must be part of the solution, not part of the problem, when it comes to issues like burning fossil fuels, building inefficient and unaccommodating buildings, using toxic chemicals and feeding an ever-growing waste stream.
Moreover, as members of the student body, we can wholeheartedly state that our peers would approve of the recommendations set forth. Many of the proposed policies for purchasing and facilities construction and renovation, for example, will directly improve the quality of student life. For instance, how many students complain of drafty dorm windows, poor indoor air quality and temperature control, clogged toilets and bad lighting? 
The Committee’s report addresses these issues under the category of building efficiency and requests that all proposed building projects go through an open design process that includes students, faculty, trade personnel, design professionals and Oberlin town residents. Such a process would mean that students get what they want, while drastically reducing environmental damage.
If Oberlin seeks to instill in its students one belief, it is that every person can –– and should –– make this world more equitable and ethical for future generations. Isn’t it time for the College to practice what it preaches and pledge to improve the quality of our environment for both current and future generations? Isn’t it time for the College to take responsibility for its actions, as the Committee’s report urges, and “continue its commitment to doing what is ethically right, intellectually sound and environmentally necessary”?
It is our sincere hope that the College administration will review our report and act quickly. If our President and faculty members are going to expect each of us to change the world for the better, certainly they should lead by example.

–Claire Jahns 
College sophomore

–Casey Pickett
College senior