Case Western Reserve University
EN-3: Student Life

Student Sustainability Council (SSC) is a student led organization that works directly to educate and promote economic, social, and environmental sustainability and equity to allow for a greater understanding and respect for our environment. SSC collaborates with other Northeast Ohio higher ed and community environmental organizations to promote sustainabillity for our campus and the greater Cleveland area. The Graduate Student Senate created a sub-committee focused on sustainability issues which has now become an independent group called the Graduate Student Sustainability Council (GSSC). The GSSC operates similarly to the SSC, focused on issues of importance to the Grad Student population. CWRU also has several student organizations working on food issues: Slow Food and the Food Recovery Network, that is working with our on-campus food service provider to donate unused food to hunger organizations, which helps to reduce the impact on landfills. There is a chapter of Net Impact active within the Weatherhead business school that engages students to work on sustainability issues with business.

The Garden@Case, established in 2011, employs organic gardening techniques and is open to students, faculty, staff, as well as community members. Volunteers help with weeding, watering, and the upkeep of the garden, recording activities in a garden log. Produce is donated to a community partner, the Cory Hunger Center in Cleveland, OH. https://community.case.edu/garden/about/
CWRU also has a 400-acre farm with 3 acres currently under food production. Food produced at the CWRU Squire Valleevue Farm is sold to the on-campus food service provider and other local restaurants. Students are welcome as both volunteers and paid employees and to conduct food based internships, to help with the food production and sales program expansion and community connections. https://case.edu/farm/

Beginning in the Fall 2017 semester, CWRU opened an undergraduate upperclassmen Sustainability House as a housing option. Among other things, the students residing in the house are able to utilize a small capital fund to help evaluate, recommend and select renovation projects to make it a more sustainable place to live.

Several university Centers host speakers or have symposia related to sustainability: the Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit (Global Forum for Business as an Agent of World Benefit), Great Lakes Energy Institute (Energy Alliance Speaker Series), and the Inamori Center for Ethics and Excellence (International Ethics Prize and Symposium), there is also an Environmental Law Center and the Swetland Center for Environmental Healthy that have community and student speakers series and workshops that students can attend. The Office for Sustainability hosts both a "Big Green Event" in the fall to allow a forum for on-campus researchers and staff and students working on sustainability-related projects to report to the campus community, and a monthly Green Bag Lunch series that brings community experts in varying areas of sustainability to campus for lunchtime presentations.

There is a student led Farm Adventure Club, a Wilderness Club and the University Farm which has hiking trails and recreation areas has a leave no trace education campaign and policies.

But here is a synoposis of past programming, we hope to replicate in the futures: FY13 the common first-year reading assignment was sustainability focused: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. In FY14 several new first-year experience programs were sustainability themed included the CWRU Connects day of service. Additionally, starting in 2012, Magnolia, one of the four available residential college themes for first year students, is devoted to engagement through the lens of sustainability.

he Student Sustainability Council (SSC) also sponsors programming that educate individuals on living sustainably.
The Sustainability House, a residential living opportunity that began in the 17-18 school year, allows a small cohort of students to learn together and practice sustainable life skills, as well as green building and renovation information and they produce programming on their sustainable lifestyle commitment and encourage other University students to adopt their practices.

Sustainability-focused employment opportunities are available for students as Sustainability Ambassadors, who are trained by the Office of Energy & Sustainability on a range of issues effecting our climate footprint, and assigned different topic areas to work on sustainability-related projects. The Office also hires a number of interns in any given year to assist with a variety of projects. The Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit is centered in the Weatherhead School of Management and hires students to work on sustainable business case stories, as well as a cohort of Fowler Fellows who assist any number of projects focused on sustainability in business. https://weatherhead.case.edu/centers/fowler/

Students can also apply for a position during the summer in the Summer Undergraduate Research in Energy & Sustainability program. Students work full time during the summer on sustainability or energy-related research projects across campus and within different disciplines, and meet weekly for enrichment seminars.

And the University Farm hires 3-5 students annually who work on many sustainability related projects.

There is a new initiative called the CWRU Climate Action Network, to enable faculty, staff and students to quickly ideate solutions to sustainability and climate challenges on campus and in the community.

SPARC, a student-run organization focused on sparking conversations has featured sustainability in their program. An annual Food Week is held by a collaboration of a number of sustainability-related organizations that will feature speakers and other engagements centered on sustainability. A recent initiative by the Provost invited individuals from across the campus to submit ideas for new and innovative collaborative opportunities for the CWRU campus that would benefit from a seed grant to start the initiative. A number of those awarded were sustainability related, including a new initiative for a Food Center.