Top Ten College Presidents also Sustainability Champions
Time Magazine recently released their list of the “10 Best College Presidents”. As I was reading through the Presidents selected for this list a common theme emerged: these are also leaders who take the challenges of sustainability seriously.
Of the Presidents selected by Time, 7 of the 10 are signatories to the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) including Michael Crow, President of Arizona State University who also serves as Co-Chair to the commitment. In addition, all of the campuses represented by these presidents are also doing great work to advance sustainability in other realms as well. One example is New York University who was this years AASHE Campus Sustainability Leadership Award winner. President Scott Cowen, representing Tulane University was a campus award winner in their category in 2008, and Middlebury College won its category in 2007. The activities these institutions are doing to advance sustainability are numerous and cover areas as diverse as education and research initiatives, campus operations and planning and administration. All ten of the campuses just happen to be AASHE members as well.
The list of presidents selected by Time Magazine is below:
Ohio State – Gordan Gee
New York University – John Sexton
University of Michigan Ann Arbor- Mary Sue Coleman
Arizona State University – Michael Crow
Tulane University – Scott Cowen
Middlebury College – Ronald Liebowitz
University of Maryland, Baltimore County – Freeman Hrabowski
Miami Dade College – Eduardo Padron
University of Texas at Brownsville – Juliet Garcia
University of California – Mark Yudof
Is your college president deserving of being part of a “best Presidents list”? I would be interested in success stories you have had working with your campus leadership to advance sustainability.
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Michael Crow
ASU may be green but it's one of the meanest universities in the US.
Michael Crow spends tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to litigate cases against fired professors who won their discrimination cases with the EEOC and the university's own faculty committee. Example. Prof. Kathryn Milun fired in 05 won her cases handily. Crow refuses to settle forcing the case through the coursts at a staggering cost to the AZ taxpayer. Keep in mind our state is cutting motor vehicle offices, we closed nearly all the highway rest stops, we cannot investigate child abuse on a timely basis, and even the legislature building is for sale. There are more cases like this too many to mention here.
Crow carried his attitude fromColumbia where he tried to ruin Prof. Graciela Chichilnisky. He hired a lawfirm that specialized in crushing labor unions to harass her. Why? He did not like her. He demanded that her boss fire her and he refused. The case dragged on for 16 years at a huge expense. See Chichilnisky vs Columbia for more details.
I saw letter sent to former Gov.Janet Napolitano that said Michael Crow created a climate of fear for minority professors at ASU West, many of whom he fired.
So while ASU may be green it is very very mean.
Early Adaptors
Excellent list of campuses. Great to learn that there are Alphas out there getting the job done, but now it is time to target the Early Adaptors to get America to turn the corner and become more aware of the value of sustainable initiatives vs. driving SUVs and eating processed foods.