AASHE Blog readers,

The Higher Education Sustainability Act (HESA) has developed good initial momentum in the House, with seven co-sponsors. We believe we also have a champion to introduce it in Senate.

Twenty prominent higher education associations, including AASHE, have endorsed HESA to date. This is greatly helping to attract Congressional attention to the bill. But only ten individual schools are on the list (see below). We have only two weeks left to build support - and we'll need more co-sponsors than we have now to get HESA passed.

Please try to get your school to endorse HESA, and most importantly, contact your Representative and Senators as soon as possible to ask them to co-sponsor HESA.

For details on how to do this, visit www.FundEE.org/campaigns/hesa. Passage of HESA could mean up to $50 million a year in grant funding to support the terrific sustainability work happening on campuses. If you're on our mailing list, you may be hearing from us by phone or email. It is an urgent matter.

Thanks in advance for your help. These endorsements and letters make a huge difference - Congress simply won't pass HESA if it doesn't hear that campuses want it. And it would be a shame to lose all the great support this bill promises.

--Judy Walton

HESA Endorsers

(as of 0ctober 22, 2007)

Colleges and Universities:

Berea College (Larry D. Shinn, President) California State University, East Bay (Mohammad H. Qayoumi, President) Grand Valley State University (Thomas J. Haas, President) Michigan State University (Terry Link, Director, Office of Campus Sustainability) New York University (Steve Heuer Associate Director,Federal Relations) Portland State University (David Ervin, Coordinator of Academic Sustainability Programs) Western Michigan University (Gregory Rosine, Senior Vice President) University of Florida (Office of Sustainability) University of Puget Sound (Ronald R. Thomas, President)

Higher Education Associations:

American Academy of Religion (John R. Fitzmier, Executive Director) American Association of Community Colleges (George R. Boggs, President) American College Personnel Association (Gregory Roberts, Executive Director) American Dental Education Association (Richard W. Valachovic, Executive Director) American Studies Association (John Stephens, Executive Director) Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (Tom Kimmerer, Executive Director) Association of College & Research Libraries (Julie Todaro, President) Association of College and University Housing Officers - International (Sallie Traxler, Executive Director) Association of College Unions International (Marsha Herman-Betzen, Executive Director) Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (Richard D. Legon, President) Collegiate Conference and Events Directors-International (Deborah Blom, Executive Director) Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (Paul R. Corts, President) Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (Bruce Coull, President) Ecological Society of America (Katherine S. McCarter, Executive Director) Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (Antonio R. Flores, President & CEO) National Association for Campus Activities (John Ogle, Director of Education and Research) National Association of Biology Teachers (Pat Waller, President) National Association of College and University Business Officers (Matthew Hamill, Senior Vice President) National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (Karen Bach, Chief Operating Officer) Society for College and University Planning (Jolene Knapp, Executive Director)

NGOS:

Campaign for Environmental Literacy (James L. Elder, Director) Chesapeake Bay Foundation (Don Baugh, Vice President for Education) Comprehensive US Sustainable Population (Alan Kuper, President) Earth Day Network (Kathleen Rogers, President) Massachusetts Audubon Society (Laura Johnson, President) National Council for Science and the Environment (Peter Saundry, Executive Director) National Wildlife Federation (Kevin Coyle, Vice President for Education) North American Association for Environmental Education (Brian Day, Executive Director) Ocean Project (Bill Mott, Director) Second Nature (Anthony Cortese, President)

Corporations:

Innoveyda (E. Fiesler, CEO) Mary Kay, Inc. (Richard C. Bartlett, Vice Chair) Nike (Brad Figel, Director, Global Government Affairs)