“Green initiative” culminates in formation of new Campus Stewardship Committee

Thanks to the CSC, you’ll soon have a new way to get rid of an old Bagpipe.

Burden on students, Senate to make program succeed

Covenant’s campus may officially be “going green.” In early April, Student Senate approved a new student committee, the Campus Stewardship Committee (CSC). After eighteen months of setbacks and trial runs, the committee was finally approved as part of Covenant’s developing recycling program.
This move is a direct result of a student-powered “green initiative,” the informal umbrella term for environment-conscious developments on campus.
The new committee’s first responsibility will be to begin implementation of a formal recycling program, something many students have been highly anticipating.
Senate approved the committee after hearing a proposal from Student Body President Kat Kimball and Sophomore Class President Alex Anderson. Kimball and Anderson have been collaborating with students, Facilities Services, and Student Development to bring recycling to Covenant’s campus.
Before implementing a formal plan, Kimball, Anderson, and students in Andreas and Founders piloted a program to test recycling, dubbing it the Andreas Test Plan.
The goal of this plan was to prove that a recycling program at Covenant would be practical, clean, and sustainable. Evaluation sheets were filled out by participating halls. The plan was run for eight weeks with the final evaluation taking place after Spring Break.
“Ultimately, Facilities Management and Planning responded well to the results of the plan and are supportive of campus recycling, but they just don’t have the resources to help us right now,” said Anderson.
The burden, then, remains with students. This conclusion led Senate to form the Campus Stewardship Committee.
The CSC will function like a club, with a Senate-approved budget. However, unlike a club, students on the committee will receive practical service hours for their work. While the organization of the committee is yet to be determined, the CSC will likely include Senate members and students who are passionate about environmental initiatives.
The plan is for the CSC to provide immediate infrastructure for Andreas and Founders halls to implement the recycling program next fall. The “far-off hope,” according to Anderson, is to bring recycling to the Maclellan/Rymer and Carter Halls over the next two years.
Long term, the committee will oversee many more stewardship initiatives, including food waste and conservation of energy.
For the present, Anderson encourages students to think about conserving energy and stewarding their resources. The heart of the “green initiative,” both Kimball and Anderson say, is stewardship and restoration.
“There are a lot of causes out there that are important,” says Anderson, “But this is something you can be doing right now. Turn your light off when you leave your room. Put an aluminum can in a recycling bin.”