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Volume CXXXII, Number 17 |
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Yale Student Conference
JONATHAN PEREZ
STAFF WRITER
In an effort to better unite student activists and regional environmental groups, Yale played host to a student environmental leadership conference during the weekend of February 15. The conference, aptly named The Northeast Student Environmental Leadership Summit (NESELS) united activists from 28 northeastern campuses in seven states which included Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Student representatives worked with fellow leaders from numerous non-profit organizations in the hopes of unifying student-activists and developing a more dynamic and powerful approach. In its conception, the coalition will grant a greater voice to many individual environmental groups found separately in colleges and universities throughout the Northeast.
At the NESEL, the Coalition was given the following mission statement draft in accordance with participating colleges: "We are a coalition of students in the Northeast dedicated to promoting environmental sustainability and facilitating both regional and statewide networking". In this sense, such an organization in its collective whole will track more effective environmental policy in response to a variety of the political decisions voiced by the current administration. The new approach based more in consensus will take into account many of the separate needs articulated by its different organizations.
The most current issue under consideration involves the organization and its efforts to better establish an internal framework and possible relations with NGO's (non-governmental organizations). Establishment of these and other networking stands as a crucial concern among student representatives as a means to launch a sturdy infrastructure and extend communications. As representatives of Maine, Emily Sowell and Meg Boyle, both members of the Class of 2005 have been declared "Maine's provisional Coalition Coordinators." In their duties, the coordinators will be held responsible to uphold communication from other states (NH, VT, RI, CT, and NJ) and regions (NY, PA and MA). Coordinators also bear the responsibility of organizing individual meetings with many of the active members of NGO's and local organizations.
One of the proposed "major goals" of the Coalition is to act as a "rapid response network" which intends to support or voice disapproval against many of the environmental policy decisions, particularly conducted at a national level. Such quick decisions intend not only to declare an agreed upon environmental stance, but also act to increase pressure on the current administration to act accordingly.
A deadline has been set for this upcoming summer to post a Coalition website. The site would include active discussion boards, a posted file outlining extensive information on many current environmental issues, information regarding both State and NGO coordinators- including that of student representatives, and a strong database that suggesting sustainable procedures in an effort to more fully institute a coordinated campus "greening plan".
A tentative date of October 4, 2003 has been set to discuss preliminary plans along with the Coalitions fundamental objectives and long-term goals. A similar meeting is to be held in the Spring of 2004, including coalition members from all nine states, governors, representatives, and senators to discuss changes in environmental policy and the future of environmentalism in general. All are welcome to attend. For more information on either the NESEL Summit or the Coalition's primary objectives, log on to www.yale.edu/ysec.
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