Green groups on campus hope to pursue projects more cohesively following the arrival of Northwestern’s first sustainability coordinator, a position created last year after Students for Ecological and Environmental Development organized a campaign that sent about 1,500 postcards to President Morton Schapiro.
Facilities Management announced in an email to faculty Friday that it had appointed a new director of sustainability. SEED and other environmental student groups first approached Schapiro two years ago with the idea.
Robert Whittier, a former manager of sustainability and climate change at Deloitte Consulting, will fill the slot starting Monday, according to the email sent by Ron Nayler , the associate vice president for Facilities Management. Whittier and Facilities Management could not be reached for comment.
“By hiring such a high-profile director, Northwestern is taking a significant step toward increasing campus sustainability,” wrote Yael Wolinsky-Nahmias, director of Weinberg’s Program in Environmental Policy and Culture, in an email to The Daily Tuesday. “We are joining a nationwide movement of universities trying to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of campuses, and offering leadership toward a more sustainable way of life.”
Whittier will take responsibility for managing eco-friendly projects on undergraduate, graduate and administrative levels. Many colleges across the nation already staff similar positions, said McCormick senior Michael Giannetto, co-chair of SEED.
“It just makes it easier to have someone in this position in charge of sustainability at Northwestern to unite efforts on campus,” Giannetto said. “So that’s what we’re hoping one of his goals will be.”
SEED first led the charge for a sustainability coordinator in 2009, organizing the postcard campaign requesting the position to Schapiro, said then-co-chair Elisa Redish (Communication and WCAS ’11). After meeting with Schapiro, Redish said she discovered the new president was surprised NU didn’t already have a coordinator, a job Schapiro had introduced to Williams College during his tenure there.
“Morty was sort of leaning (towards being) more environmental than (former president) Bienen was,” Redish said. “It ended up being way easier to sell than we thought it would be.”
Filling the position, however, took time. The University created a committee of students from SEED, Engineers for a Sustainable World and other eco-friendly groups to help interview applicants in summer 2010, Redish said. According to Redish, the search ended unsuccessfully because the University set its standards too high, asking for a candidate with 15 years of experience in a fairly new industry. NU found Whittier in a second round of applications, which Redish and Giannetto said did not involve students.
Giannetto praised Facilities Management for appointing a sustainability coordinator but said he hadn’t expected the position to be filled so quickly – and without student group input.
Members of the Sustainability Working Action Group, a committee comprised of representatives from more than 20 NU departments and organizations, learned Facilities Management had chosen Whittier at a meeting Friday. Giannetto said he wishes the process had been more transparent.
“We’re really excited to finally have (a coordinator),” Giannetto said. “It totally came out of the blue, and we are all a little unsure of what his position actually entails because there hasn’t been much communication between the administration and students about this. It even seemed like a lot of administrators were confused.”
Despite this frustration, Giannetto said SEED members are thrilled with the appointment and have already started compiling ideas for collaborations with Whittier. Whittier will coordinate environmental efforts at NU, a job that previously fell on Dean of Students Burgwell Howard and Julie Cahillane, the manager of recycling and refuse at Facilities Management.
“Before, it’s kind of fallen on Burgie and Julie, and they have other things on their plate,” Redish said. “This is something they took on on their own, but it hasn’t been feasible for them to create this entire coalition. They have their own jobs to do.”
McCormick senior Brooke Stanislawski, a leader of Engineers for a Sustainable World’s Northwestern Clean Energy Plan, said she hopes the position will foster cohesion among different projects. Although she said she appreciates how helpful Facilities Management has been in the past, she said groups would often have to schedule meetings three weeks in advance because of the department’s busy schedule.
“To have one person that would be the liaison between students doing the projects and the administration would be so helpful in moving the projects along faster,” Stanislawksi said.
Both ESW and SEED hope Whittier can help them with current initiatives. Stanislawksi said ESW is working on implementing ideas from the Clean Energy Plan, including a study of wind speeds on campus to evaluate how wind turbines could be utilized, solar panel installation on shuttle buses to provide heat and light and a green roof on Norris. For SEED’s part, Giannetto said he’d like to see on-site renewable energy, composting and more funding for projects in general.
“From what I’ve heard, part of his job will be to write grants,” Giannetto said. “We’re hoping that’s true and it will help us to get some more green initiatives.”
