Here is the issue. I go to a former women's college. Upon my arrival, its second year of co-education, there was a completely different atmosphere than there is now. I decided to attend because it was still being advertised as women-centered and seemed to be really progressive in terms of diversity, equality, women's issues... basically anything that you do not discuss at the dinner table was discussed at Wells. It wasn't hidden or shrugged off. The issues were dealt with or at least they seemed to have been. Now there is rampant heterosexism, racism, hatecrimes, a new term called "whiteboarding" which is used for when someone writes a word such a "carpetmuncher" in permanent marker on a lesbian's whiteboard, and just in general, people are scared. These actions have led to a big rift between certain groups of students on campus. People are being stereotyped, being deemed responsible for things they didn't do because of the people they hang out with or the sports they play.
Everything is a big mess. The students are trying to get things going, there have been meetings among students to start change but there is little or no help from faculty, staff and administration. At the meetings alone, only three members of the faculty showed up. At the collegiate meeting with the dean of students it took us, the student govt leaders, to bring up the incidences of bias on campus, and in return, the DOS just wanted to talk about protocol for reporting the incidences... which is basically - call security. We were shrugged off. In our student handbook there are 2 pages devoted to communication and email policies... there is only one paragraph for what to do in cases of harassment.
In addition, there is no rape policy. It was something that as a former women's college did not present itself as an issue. Now, it is an issue. Students who report it are shrugged off. When one student, who had reported an incidence of attempted rape, emailed a professor telling her ze did not feel comfortable being in class with hir offender, the DOS yelled at hir, telling her ze cannot use the term "harassment" because technically she wasn't since the school decided not to pursue the issue meaning nothing was ever proven. Currently, there is a student who has three infractions against hir for various forms of sexual assault and ze is still on campus. (In my personal opinion the reluctance of follow through and for drafting a rape policy is because the school does not want to affiliate itself with rape, because, well, it is bad for business. If they actually deal with these issues, they will have to call attention to the fact that the issues exist. I do not think that they necessarily want to protect the offenders, they just want to protect themselves, even if that means making a group of students feel hopeless when they go to them for help.)
Recently, it seems like my college has taken a detour from dealing with the issues by concentrating souly on sustainability. This huge stress on it has come out of nowhere. One day we were talking about reproductive freedom, the next day, sustainability... WTF? Don't get me wrong, I know the importance of sustainability and I take it very seriously concerning how I live my life. But I feel like so much of the college's energy has been spent on sustainabilty that I feel like many other worthy issues and topics are not being discussed.
For instance, the college's president just signed a document that i guess legitimizes the college's endeavor for sustainability at the national level. Everyone made it out to be a huge deal. We now have new housing on campus for student who want to be sustainable which cost a ton of money from the college to achieve. In addition, our school has an awesome activism symposium every year where various important issues are brought to the attention of students by having a series of speakers within a two day time. GUESS WHAT THIS YEAR'S THEME IS... SUSTAINABILITY. Just what we need... more information on sustainabilty. How much information is needed on this issue. It is a braindead thing that if you just walk around being consious of it, you will make a difference... recycle, use less water, turn out the lights, COMPOST, fix that leaky faucet, use energysaving light bulbs... do we really need this common sense to be preached 24/7 when more pressing issues exist beyond whether my shower is longer than 3 minutes.
I know of at least one other college that wanted to move towards being women-entered but then decided to be sustainable instead, because, ya know, you have to be one or the other. Has anyone else observed sustainability used diffuse the bigger issues? Am I making any type of valid point or does this seem out of left field?
(I know this has been a glorified rant)
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It's true, bcereo, that sustainability is the hot issue on campuses right now. I've been working in academic contexts for quite awhile now and can tell you that this is just how academia works: by jumping from one hot topic to the next. And everyone tries to jump on the bandwagon and tie their projects in somehow to whatever the "hot topic" of the moment is because that's where the grant money is. It sucks, but that's how it works. While I think sustainability is a really important issue and am glad that it's finally getting the attention it should have had years ago, it sucks that the issues you're concerned about aren't getting the attention they deserve. If working with the administration isn't getting any results, and you've made a good faith effort, you might look at seeking publicity outside of the school community. Nothing will light a fire under collective administrative asses faster than an editorial or some investigative journalism in the local newspaper, because this is exactly what they're hoping to avoid. So you might pursue that avenue if they remain unresponsive.
I also wanted to point out that issues of sustainability might seem basic and practical to you, this is generally not the case for everybody. You would be amazed how many plastic bottles and aluminum cans I pull out of the trash can in the classroom after every class I teach, even though there's usually a set of recycle bins right outside the door. This is a case where lip service is prevalent but real action is lacking. Hopefully campus sustainability drives will make an impact in this area.
Yep. My campus is in the middle of a sustainability campaign right now, and thanks to it, I get to go have a little chat with my hall director this week. Why? Because RAs came into my room and unplugged a ton of my shit. If I don't want to participate in this "reduce your use" competition between the dorms? My. Own. Decision.
My campus also has terrible policies in regards to rape. Housing will not kick a rapist out of housing because the victim MIGHT BE LYING.
A friend of mine quit uni because she was gang-raped, and the university didn't expel the rapists, or even remove them from campus housing, and so got to see her rapists around campus all the time.