October 21, 2003

Attending Members: Steve Trombulak (Co-Chair), Nan Jenks-Jay (Co-Chair), Connie Leach Bisson (Vice Chair), Anne Knowles, Jeff Munroe, David Stoll, Gail Smith, Charlotte Tate, Philip Aroneanu, Carolyn Barnwell, McKalyn Garrity, Andrea Hamre, Erika Holsman, Suzanne Nagi, J.S. Woodward, Ashley Clark, Robin Dean, Alyse Forrest, Kristin Fraser, Asher Burns-Burg, Mike Romankiewicz.  Guests:  Ian Ausprey

Absent:  Diane Munroe

The meeting convened at 4:35 p.m.

1.  Minutes of October 7, 2003

A motion was made by David Stoll, seconded by Anne Knowles to accept the minutes of October 7, 2003.  The motion was passed unanimously.

2.  Announcements

Connie shared that her announcements would be included in the new Blue Green electronic newsletter that would be distributed via e-mail on Wednesday.

Nan announced that the Economics Department was videotaping today's lecture by Tom Tietenberg and people should contact the Economics Department Coordinator to borrow it.  Steve used this opportunity to state that rescheduling an Environmental Council meeting cannot be done - given the complexity of everyone's schedule.  When events are sponsored by ES and Environmental Affairs, efforts are made to avoid conflicts.  In other situations, we will try to provide alternative access to the information through taping.

3.  Report of meeting with President McCardell

Steve shared that six people attended the meeting on October 14th with President McCardell:  Charlotte Tate, JS Woodward, Anne Knowles, Steve Trombulak, Nan Jenks-Jay, and Connie Leach Bisson.  During the meeting, members summarized the planned work of each subcommittee and possible policies that might be brought to the Executive Council. 

Connie discussed the Assessment process.  President McCardell was pleased to learn of this initiative but had no specific request concerning content or process. 

J.S. discussed the plans of the Earth Charter subcommittee.  He reported that President McCardell was concerned with the College endorsing this document, indicating that it would require significant convincing particularly given lack of evidence of peer institutions signing the document.  Given this guidance from President McCardell, Steve noted that this committee will need to think very carefully before bringing anything before the Environmental Council (EC); and subsequently, the EC will need to be thoughtful in what it might bring forward to the Executive Council.

Steve shared that President McCardell was highly supportive of the Paper Reduction work, recognizing that it follows the college's fiscal and environmental agenda. President McCardell is interested to see what will emerge from this work. Was the issue of charging for printing discussed? While this strategy was not discussed specifically, the general consensus was that President McCardell wants all possibilities to be considered given the continuing upward paper consumption trend on the campus.

Steve also reported on the Land Use subcommittee discussion.  President McCardell shared that this is an issue also under consideration by the Trustees.  They are discussing a philosophy on when to buy, sell and hold land and what to do with lands that are held.  EC is pleased that the work begun by the Land Use subcommittee last year can dovetail with the Trustees' discussions.  President McCardell was pleased to learn of the subcommittee's plan to develop a GIS centralized database. 

President McCardell did not have specific charges for the EC.  He was interested in discussing biodiesel and the organic garden.  As part of this dialogue, Nan reinforced that the college needs to continue to develop methods for empowering student-initiated projects while minimizing added workload other parties such as the facilities management staff.  President McCardell was very pleased with SGA's display at Proctor over Parent's weekend regarding missing dishes/cups from the dining halls.  To have a student generated display that brings home a message important to the Administration was very well received. 

Nan summarized that President McCardell really follows the work of the EC and it is good to check in with him several times throughout the year.  He is now anticipating several policy requests from EC focusing on Land Use, Paper Reduction and possibly the Earth Charter, and a report from the Assessment subcommittee.

4. Dining Service Dining Implements Conundrum

Matt Biette approached the Environmental Council requesting advice on how to address the increasing number of dishes, cups and cutlery being removed from the dining halls.  Matt was invited to the EC meeting but was not able to attend so Connie had a conversation with him in advance of the meeting.  In general, Matt felt the problem stems from laziness on the part of the students and a lack of understanding about responsibility.  He noted that Dining is moving in the direction of increasing opportunities for outside eating - there will be outside cooking designed into the Atwater facility. [Notes from the conversation: Should there be collection points on campus and if so, who is responsible for bringing them back? Increased financial responsibility is being preached.  Dining Services is working from a budget and there are tradeoffs  (wasted spending) when the budget is used to replace dishes or track them down rather than other things like special events.  Shifting to providing disposables for those desiring "take out" then adds to environmental problems.]  Matt shared that there is a Dining Regulation in the College Handbook restricting the removal of food, dishes or utensils. [ Found under Dining Halls; Dining Room Regulations  2. Theft or removal of food, dishes, utensils, etc., from the College dining facilities (including the Grille, the Juice Bar, Rehearsals Café, the Redfield Room, Midd Xpress, the Golf Course and Snow Bowl snack bars) is prohibited and may result in a minimum $35 fine, plus disciplinary procedures.]

The EC held an active discussion of the issue.  Had dining done any kind of cost analysis of going to disposables? Ian Ausprey had data about the number of implements removed since the beginning of the year - the most complete data available from Ross:  300+ soup spoons, 250 teaspoons, 200 forks, 200 knives, 75-100 trays, 100+ Mongolian grill bowls, 150 cereal bowls, 100+ dinner plates and 1100 cups;  Proctor:  1692 cups, 834 small glasses, 360 coffee cups; FIC 650-700 cups.  Where does it go? Suites are not stocked with dishes and silverware.  Students felt that the intention was to return them, but they get them to their room and suite and either find them useful there or fall to laziness in returning them.  Philip shared that he has talked with Matt about the issue and reiterated Matt's thinking that it is an issue of irresponsibility on the part of students.  Matt has several ideas for dealing with it through education though some of these ideas have been discouraged by the Administration.  There was a time that when you took out a tray or a dish you had to leave your Midd card.

Nan provided background that EC had been part of an initial retrieval system several years ago.  She feels that the College should not set up a system that supports bad behavior.  Need to find some balance between the attitude of democracy and allowing access to everything with responsibility.  When at a restaurant, people do not expect the right to leave with the dishware.  David noted that the college is like a family.  Several students stated that they think students feel that it is OK to borrow dishes as long as they bring them back.  Nan shared that for a while Dining was providing perks to staff (free coffee, etc) if they (landscaping, custodial) returned dishes they found - puts the responsibility in the wrong place. 

There was more discussion about various educational campaigns.  What about zero tolerance at the door? This will be more difficult as dining flows into the outdoors, even though it is seasonal.  In the summer during language schools it was noted that dishes are regularly left on the patios and grounds adjacent to the dining halls. 

The College needs to take a strong stand.  In the first six weeks of school, $6600 of dishware has been removed, approximately $1000/week.  Nan suggested that Dining Services is in a hard place and assistance needs to come from many voices.  EC could participate in a multi-group meeting that we recommend includes SGA, Dean of Student Affairs and someone involved in the fiscal management of the college such as Tom Corbin.  [ Subsequent to the EC meeting the Co-Chairs determined that they would send a letter to Matt Biette recommending follow up.]

5.  Initiative for Network Printers in Residence Halls

Steve shared that EC had received information about SGA's initiative to install networked printers in every residence hall. This was part of SGA President Sam Rodriguez's platform.  While neither Asher nor Ian had specifics (a meeting with SGA was to follow the EC meeting), they said that Sam had indicated that he has received positive feedback and wants to get the initiative off the ground "before snow flies".  Steve noted that the Paper Reduction subcommittee's work will not be completed before snow flies.  Nan said it would be helpful to see an assessment of the costs and benefits - what it will cost, the potential environmental impact, where they will be located, how they will be serviced.  She is concerned because currently there is a strong working relationship between EC and SGA.  If the printers go in quickly and then the subcommittee report comes out suggesting that they be removed, this could hurt the relationship.  Nan's suggestion was to put one in as a pilot and get data on how it is used.  This would enable Sam to follow up on his platform, but in a responsible way.  Asher felt that it would be possible to slow the process until details were worked out.  The EC recommends that a proposal be developed so that we can understand the project and can then dialogue with the SGA about this in an informed way.  [Subsequent to the EC meeting the Co-Chairs agreed to send a letter to the SGA about the printer discussion.]

6. Brainstorm about the Environmental Fair

Traditionally the Environmental Fair has been sponsored by EC in conjunction with dining's Thanksgiving meal that features local foods.  This year there has been a recommendation to minimize EC's role and encourage the Commons to be involved with Connie's assistance.  Connie said she would be working with the Environmental Liaisons next week and was interested in any ideas from the EC on a particular focus for the event.  Ideas included:  dramatizing the resource balloon (footprint analysis), getting the bluegrass band that bought the biobus to come down and play, involve Just Earth campaign of Amnesty International, Info materials on how to bring it home (actions for minimizing consumption during the holidays), have the pedal power bike there, interactive things such as those available from VEEP.  Nan suggested focusing on sustainable foods, dining, composting, MCOG, greenhouse, relationship with local farmers and food producers.

The meeting adjourned at 5:50 p.m.