College Campuses

Mary Anne Hitt: Michigan State Calls for Clean Energy on Campus

Published 2012-04-11T22:35:27+00:000000002730201204 | By Doc Hollywood

Nationwide, students are leading the way in pushing their universities and colleges to invest in innovative clean energy solutions. There is a growing momentum on college campuses to move our nation off dirty, 19th-century fuels that are making people sick.

Twenty colleges and universities have won fights to phase out coal plants on their campuses, thanks in large part to the hard hitting Campuses Beyond Coal campaigns of Sierra Student Coalition. These plants are responsible for dangerous pollution including mercury, carbon dioxide, arsenic and lead and can lead to more severe asthma attacks, bronchial infections and cancer.

Students can help reinvent the American economy by pressuring school administrations to invest in clean, safe and reliable energy on campuses from California to Connecticut.

MSU beyond coal 2 (http://sierraclub NULL.typepad NULL.com/ NULL.a/6a00d83451b96069e20168e9f2fa5e970c-popup)

Here’s the latest example of this amazing work by students — from Michigan State University and Sierra Student Coalition Organizer Anastasia Schemkes:

Michigan State operates the largest coal plant on a university campus in the nation, burning approximately 200,000 tons of coal per year (http://pp NULL.msu NULL.edu/index NULL.cfm/power-and-water/energy-sources/facts-and-statistics/). Fortunately for us, it also has one of the largest Campuses Beyond Coal campaigns (http://sierraclub NULL.org/coal/campus/) in the nation with MSU Beyond Coal (http://msubeyondcoal NULL.wordpress NULL.com/about-us/) who has collected over 10,000 petition signatures to retire the dirty, aging plant over the course of their 2.5 year campaign.

As a result of student pressure, the university released an “Energy Transition Plan” this semester that is meant to be their road map toward cleaner energy for the campus. Unfortunately, the plan lacks, well, any real plan at all. In many ways the ETP is a smokescreen for furthering fossil fuel use at the school while talking a lot about clean energy in only vaguest terms.

Students have responded with action, especially as the plan is headed to the Board of Trustees for approval. Along with an 18-foot-tall (yes, close to two stories! — see the photo) inflatable inhaler, students held a press conference today about the negative health impacts of burning coal.

MSU beyond coal (http://sierraclub NULL.typepad NULL.com/ NULL.a/6a00d83451b96069e2016764f18483970b-popup)“I know firsthand how awful it is to have an asthma attack so bad that I’ve been hospitalized and stuck in a bed with machines helping me breathe, rather than being in class or out with friends,” said senior and leader of MSU Beyond Coal Talya Tavor (pictured at the left at one of today’s events) who has been suffering from asthma since she was two years old.

“Coal pollution causes hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks every year, which is why MSU must be a leader by cutting their toxic air pollution and switching to healthier energy sources starting now.”

In addition to the inhaler sitting just behind “The Rock” — an iconic campus landmark they had to camp out all night to paint and defend — the group created a field of 37 10-foot-tall sunflowers to represent the 37 deaths per year in Ingham County from coal-related illnesses and a banner representing the 10,547 student petitions the group has collected asking the administration to retire the dirty coal-burning plant on campus.

Later tonight they’re hosting a Clean Energy Forum with energy experts from across the state discussing how Michigan can create jobs and improve the economy by being a clean energy leader. They’ll also be joined by Bill McKibben (http://www NULL.billmckibben NULL.com/), renowned author and activist who you might know from 350.org (http://350 NULL.org) or those massive protests against the Keystone XL tarsands pipeline, who is skyping in to cheer them on. (You can catch a livestream of the event (http://www NULL.ustream NULL.tv/channel/msu-beyond-coal) starting at 7 p.m. ET)

All of this is leading up to the Board of Trustees meeting on Friday where the administration will formally present their deeply flawed plan. It’s so bad that the students who were initially invited to participate in the Steering Committee refused to sign-off on the final version.

Michigan State has a long way to go to be a clean energy leader, but students are still hopeful.

“We know MSU can be a clean energy leader. Our vision is not just for cleaner air on campus, but to put Spartans at the forefront of building a prosperous clean energy economy for Michigan and being a model for our peer institutions,” said Tavor.

And you can help: Take action today by signing a petition (http://action NULL.sierraclub NULL.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=8453) to the university’s Board of Trustees urging them to take real steps to move MSU to 100% clean energy starting now.

Photos by Kim Teplitzky

State Bans Use Of Medical Marijuana On College Campuses

Published 2012-04-04T09:15:31+00:000000003130201204 | By Doc Hollywood

PHOENIX, April 3 (Reuters) – Arizona’s Republican Governor Jan Brewer signed into law on Tuesday a bill to ban medical marijuana from being used on the campuses of state universities and community colleges in the latest salvo in a long-running battle over legalization of the drug.

Arizona’s move to bar the drug’s use on campus is the latest in a drive to roll back laws legalizing the therapeutic use of marijuana, which remains classified as an illegal narcotic under U.S. federal law.

Supporters said the Arizona law was designed to protect federal funding for institutions of higher education, which they said was at threat if medical marijuana use was allowed in state schools.

“With the health and safety of Arizona’s students, as well as literally hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, this legislation is critically necessary,” State Representative Amanda Reeve, a Republican, said in a statement.

“Our children and adult students are far too important to risk. I’m proud to say we acted swiftly and decisively when confronted by this obvious concern,” she added.

The measure sailed through the state legislature with bipartisan support. The law, due to take effect this summer, is expected to face a legal challenge by medical marijuana proponents.

Arizona voters passed a medical marijuana measure by a razor-thin margin in 2010, and the state is among 16, plus Washington, D.C., with some sort of legalized medical-marijuana statutes, according to the National Drug Policy Alliance.

Reeve said more than $666 million in federal dollars could be jeopardized if Arizona allowed medical marijuana on its higher education campuses. Matthew Benson, a spokesman for Brewer, said that the drug has “no place on a college campus.”

“Marijuana remains a federal controlled substance, regardless of whether it is being used as a medicinal agent,” Benson said.

The Arizona move comes as the federal government has sought in recent months to shut down storefront medical weed shops and greenhouses in California and other mostly Western states deemed by federal investigators to be serving as drug-trafficking fronts, as well as those located near schools and parks.

On Monday, U.S. federal agents in California raided a San Francisco Bay-area college known as the “Princeton of Pot” and briefly detained its founder. The school, Oaksterdam University, offers courses in growing and dispensing marijuana.

Federal authorities have also intensified their crackdown in Colorado and Washington state, where voters will be deciding in ballot initiatives in November whether to make those states the first to legalize marijuana for recreational use. (Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

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Mary Anne Hitt: Michigan State Calls for Clean Energy on Campus

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