The Triangle

Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Olivia Garrity

Media Credit: Olivia Garrity

The Drexel Green organization, founded and organized by Drexel's Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff Tobey Oxholm, held its first meetings of the fall term Sept. 29 and Sept. 30 to discuss and develop plans for the committees on sustainability.

These first meetings, according to Anoo Sukhia, former chairperson of the sustainability committee and coordinator's committee, were mainly for the purpose of discussing the organization's action plan for the fall quarter.

The goals for the fall term were presented at the meetings, including looking into what other colleges are doing on their campuses, considering the recommendations made to other schools by national organizations and assessing those possibilities in regard to Drexel University.

Six committees were formed to deal with different aspects of the green movement: Buildings, Operations, Community, Student Life/Student Living, Academics, and Research and Planning/Special Events.

According to Oxholm, this term is a "tipping point" for Drexel in terms of its sustainability efforts.

"We did great things last year, and we have great things to do this year," Oxholm said.

Among the accomplishments of Drexel's campus was a higher grade on the annual evaluation by the Sustainability Endowment Institute in Massachusetts, according to Oxholm, a jump from a C- last year to a B- this year.

Oxholm accredits the success to a variety of changes, most notably, to the level of attention the green movement is receiving lately.

"It's like everybody's seeing green," Oxholm said. "We now have the support and publicity and the recognition by the administration to do these things."

One of the group's goals this term will be to publish public reports in January 2009 on what the organization has learned about sustainability and green efforts, Oxholm said. An important focus will be Drexel's service to the city community.

"We are not an island," Oxholm said. "We are not just Mantua and Powelton - we are part of the city of Philadelphia. How can we work with Philly?"

Oxholm added that the organization will look at the "indicators" on the annual report card in order to determine what can be done on campus.

"We don't want a list that Santa can give us," Oxholm said. "We're on budget, so if we put on a big Christmas list, your tuition triples."

Sophomore and physical therapy major Kristin Cuprzinski, introduced by Oxholm as the assistant to the executive vice president, has had an active part in the Drexel Green organization since its introduction.

"I heard about it through an e-mail, and it was ironic timing because I'd just finished a project in English class, and my group had just done a proposal on how to make Drexel look better and more efficient with energy," Cuprzinski said. "I ended up really liking it, taking a leadership position, and here I am."

According to Cuprzinski, Drexel Green is currently looking into making a course on sustainability and the green effort mandatory for all students. Cuprzinski added that students are already very involved on campus and can do more than they think.

"Even if you're not in the committees, doing the little tips would help," Cuprzinski said. "Just recycle, that's the biggest thing. Everyone sees the different bins, but if you just take those extra two seconds of your life to use them, it'll make a huge difference."

Cuprzinski added that students can visit the Drexel Green page, drexel.edu/sustainability, for more ideas and suggestions on how to help the efforts.

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