Dear Student Body,

On Wednesday, there will be an emergency meeting held discussing the events surrounding the termination of Dr. Cordell Black. Dr. Cordell is the Assistant Provost of Equity and Diversity and has been a strong advocate for students here at the university.

I and other members of the Student Government Association, along with the leadership and members of Community Roots plus many other campus organizations, will be attending the meeting.

The meeting will be taking place from 6-8 PM in the Nyumburu Cultural Center. To RSVP for the event, please click here.

I look forward to seeing you there. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to e-mail me at SGApresident@umd.edu.

Steve Glickman
Student Body President
University of Maryland

Over the past few weeks and months, the SGA has repeatedly demanded to know why the university's budget is not available online. But over and over again we were met with resistance by the administration. At last week's budget town hall meeting, SGA members relentlessly pressed administrators on why the budget was not readily accessible. We decided to take it into our own hands: Today, SGA Legislator Kenton Stalder walked down to Hornbake Library and downloaded the budget himself.

But if we are going to demand openness transparency from the administration, we need to demand transparency from ourselves. In this light, the SGA will post both the university's budget and the budget of every student group, including the SGA, on its website. You have always been able to view the SGA's budget, along with the budget of every student group on campus, here.

 

In an effort to increase transparency and enhance communication between the Student Government Association and the university's 26,000 undergraduate students, the SGA  is proud to announce that it has officially launched its new e-mail mailing lists. The lists, which are opt-in, are divided into residential and college areas. More than 1,000 students have already signed up, with the numbers still increasing. Here is the e-mail announcing the program sent to every undergraduate student by Student Body President Steve Glickman explaining the program and details on how to sign up for this exciting new service:

"As many of you know, I am currently serving as your Student Body President for the 2009-2010 academic school year. I, along with all of your representatives in the Student Government Association, have made a commitment to representing student concerns and keeping you updated on events, programs, and opportunities to get involved in the university community.

This year, the SGA has created a campus wide listserv that we would like to invite you to join. The listservs are organized by residential and academic area and you can opt to receive updates from your representatives.

To subscribe, please go to www.oit.umd.edu/SGA.

Enter your username (University ID) and password and subscribe to the listservs that interest you.

This listserv will help you be informed about events that will be happening on campus.

If you have any questions about the listserv or have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at steveg@umd.edu or stop by the SGA office, 0209J Student Involvement Suite in the Stamp Student Union."

By Alex Weissman

A lot of people have asked me why I am so concerned about the proposed development of the area known as the Wooded Hillock on campus.  We’ve all heard reports that something on the order of 3 to 7 million acres of forest are lost in the Amazon every year. So why such a big row over 9 measly acres of PG county forest? 

I could point out that although 9 acres of forest isn’t much on a global scale, in our small community where most of the land has already been paved, it forms a significant oasis of undisturbed natural habitat for a surprisingly diverse range of plant, bird, and fungal species.  Or, I could take the political perspective; decision-making among campus administrators is notoriously opaque to the rest of the community, and students and faculty were virtually left out of the decision to develop the Hillock.

The real issue, however, is attitude – a problem with much farther-reaching implications than the development itself.  Since the dawn of agriculture, our species has treated the planet as nothing more than a resource to be exploited to drive our mission of pathological growth.  In the face of impending ecological disaster which threatens our own survival, we are starting to see the need for a more “sustainable” approach to growth and resource utilization.  People are starting to care about certain things, such as global warming and water quality. 


But yet, the problem of attitude still remains.  “Going green” is seen as a status symbol, and as with wearing designer clothes or driving a fancy car, people compete with each other to boost their egos by showing how “green” they can be.  The danger behind this kind of self-centered motivation is that sustainability is being reduced to a fashion, rather than a philosophy.  When the fashion inevitably dies out, as all fashions do, people are liable to resume their lives of reckless consumption. 


This type of attitude is certainly not limited to individuals; on the contrary, it is even more endemic among organizations.  For the University, too, sustainability is simply a fashion.  Many positive steps have been taken – recycling rates are up, dining halls and sporting arenas are composting, and energy conservation is being promoted.  But on a fundamental level, the primary purpose of these measures is marketing.  The University wants to tout itself as a progressive, forward-thinking, green institution.  Unfortunately, you can’t market something like “not cutting down a forest” unless, of course, there is enough opposition to it in the community that it no longer remains a silent issue.

Tomorrow (Friday), the SGA and the Student Sustainability Committee and will be hosting a picnic on the Hillock at 5PM.  Students and faculty from a diverse range of backgrounds will come out to show their support for the largest remaining area of undisturbed forest on campus.  Perhaps this show of support will encourage administrators to not only rethink their marketing strategy, but their attitude and core values.  It’s not just that I want the University to preserve the Hillock; I want the University, and all of its members, to want to preserve the Hillock. 


Only when we begin to dispel the veil of self-promotion, acting with compassion towards each other and our environment, can we truly begin to progress.

For more information about the Hillock, please check out the photos below or click here.