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“Liaisons have the most important job in the world,”
remarked Campus Sustainability Assessment CUIP intern Laura Kelly,
with what might have been a touch of frustration or excitement.
“That’s what I feel that I became, working on the Campus
Sustainability Assessment. Everyone knows that communication is
the most basic aspect of human interaction. But you see how much
it’s lacking, just on this campus! I’ve gotten a much
more profound concept of what’s needed in the world.”
Communication is something with which Laura, known to her friends
as Lily, has never had too much trouble. “I don’t think
of myself as particularly outgoing, but I never have a problem striking
up conversations with random strangers.” Little did she suspect
how useful that skill could be. The Campus Sustainability Assessment
meant to create a baseline of current policies and practices related
to sustainability on campus, required for the bulk of its development
dozens of interviews and conversations with staff members, students
and faculty. The third-year Environmental Studies and Economics
double major soon realized that the ability to converse easily was
invaluable.
Lily, who has been devoted to reform-oriented environmental protection
since her childhood, came into this project eager to learn, but
with a good base of knowledge from which to draw. “I knew
a lot of the terminology used by staff members from sustainability-related
classes, and I knew a little about the student efforts from working
with the students organizations,” she said. She had worked
with the Student Environmental Center two years before, but had
left due to conflicting priorities. “I have always been very
interested in working with staff and administrators, the campus
policymakers.” The SEC, a well-respected student organization
focused on institutionalizing sustainability on campus, has been
more focused on events and outreach in recent months. “I hoped
do more good by focusing on school and by doing independent work.”
However, it wasn’t until she became involved with the Assessment
project that her working life gained momentum. It was through her
mentor and project manager that she designed and created a website
for the Environmental Health and Safety Office, became involved
in the formation of the Campus Sustainability Subcommittee, and
subsequently became acquainted with the people with whom she would
be working for the next months. As she remarked toward the end of
the year, “These side projects were a very exciting and informative
part of working on the Assessment. One fed into the other.”
Though the Assessment will not be completed until the end of summer
due to unforeseen delays, Lily feels very good about the accomplishments
of the project so far. “I’ve been able to get staff
excited about documenting their projects and hopes for the future,”
she said. “That’s what will keep the momentum of the
sustainability movement going. People need to feel how important
and rewarding it is to improve the environmental stewardship of
the University. Plus, with the attention the project has received,
particularly since the Chancellor’s announcement, it’s
unlikely that this will be the last Campus Sustainability Assessment
done at UCSC.”
Personally, Lily has grown into a new role that she hopes to pursue
and institutionalize. “From doing this work, I’ve learned
firsthand about the value of communication between students and
administrators,” she said. While she had always been aware
of the discrepancy between what the students thought about the staff
and administrators, and what they actually did and believed, she
found that she had a passion for helping both sides to understand
each other. “I am very eager to become a part of the solution
to this problem.”
The CUIP course was instrumental in augmenting her ability to hear
and tell classmates about the “other sides” to the many
rumors that emerge on campus. “I mean, how many other students
get to hear about the latest news of the University from the Chair
of the Academic Senate, or the Chancellor?” she said. The
course, and being in contact with the other interns, was also helpful
in expanding her general understanding of what activities were going
on at UCSC. For the next Assessment, she plans to strongly suggest
that the Assessment team include information about the projects
on campus concerning student life and town relations like SHOP,
ChUCK and the Good Neighbor Initiative. “Sustainability has
a lot more to it than just low-flow toilets and fluorescent lighting!”
she declared.
So where to now? During the Assessment process, Lily has become
involved with the Student Environmental Center, and hopes to create
a new subcommittee to serve as, guess what, liaisons. “Through
my work on the Assessment, I was able to help the students understand
what was happening at the administrative level, and I want to ensure
the continuity of that flow of information after I leave.”
She will be working this summer, in addition to finishing the Assessment,
on getting the liaison subcommittee off the ground. “I want
other students to learn what I have about campus decision-making
structures, and I want to the UCSC sustainability movement to benefit
from increased communication with pertinent administrative and academic
committees.” When asked what the most important thing the
students could learn, she replied, “There is so many exciting
projects going on, it’s overwhelming! I don’t want any
students to be denied the opportunity to get involved.”
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