Report to the USM Student Council

The USM Student Council is set to meet Sunday September 7 at USM Headquarters. The meeting agenda includes:
- elections of 2008-2009 officers
- a legislative update from Andy Clark
- a presentation from Rachel Fauber of the Maryland Student Climate Coalition
- discussion of the Amethyst Initiative
- discussion of the Slots Referendum
- role of the USM Student Council

As the student regent, I provide a written report each month. Please review and your convenience and contact me with any questions you may have.

Vice Chancellor of Sustainability Don Boesch to meet with national ‘Green Campus’ leader

The Maryland Student Climate Coalition continues to spend the summer building relationships and creating strong coalitions to continue the campaign for USM carbon neutrality. Recently, Vice President of Education, Merrilee Harrigan at the Alliance to Save Energy has finalized plans to meet with Don Boesch, newly appointed Vice Chancellor of Sustainability to explore the implementation of the ‘Green Campus’ initiative in USM schools.

The Green Campus program, currently used in California system schools, works with students to save energy on campus by creating general and personal awareness, uses energy conservation in practice and by incorporation into classroom curricula, and implements projects around energy use, student purchasing decisions and USM and campus operational changes. The program, which has made California higher education institutes national leaders in environmental sustainability is a perfect fit for the USM, which is slowly stepping up and leading the east coast in the sustainability movement.