Student Group Charter Student Sustainability Initiative University of Michigan Last update:

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1 Student Group Charter Student Sustainability Initiative University of Michigan Last update: Vision The Student Sustainability Initiative (SSI) strives to make the University of Michigan a leader in campus sustainability among higher education institutions through a focus on operations and administration in addition to supporting research, curriculum, and an involved and informed student community. Mission SSI s mission is to foster a culture of environmental sustainability and awareness at the University of Michigan by supporting student initiatives, projects, programs, and events. SSI facilitates connections and collaboration between students and student organizations, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members with the goal of advancing sustainably on campus. History The University of Michigan is a large, decentralized institution with a vast and diverse student body. In addition to the breadth of academic and research opportunities on campus, students 1 enjoy the opportunity to become involved in various student groups. These group are funded and supported by the University and allow students to organize around common interests outside of the classroom. Many of these student groups are organized around the common theme of environmentalism, sustainability, and student-led action. These groups are focused on diverse topics such as environmental education in local schools, sustainable food in campus dining halls, recycling and reuse, ecological awareness, and environmental law and policy. Despite the wealth of involved student groups on campus, these groups have struggled to be recognized as legitimate campus voices by University administrators and have lacked the access to campus-wide decision makers necessary to make meaningful changes in campus sustainability. Administrators often consider student-led initiatives shortsighted: as soon as any significant gains are made towards student-driven goals, the students (mostly undergraduates) graduate. The momentum is lost and the effort fails to be carried out long-term. Thus one major challenge is sustaining long-term student-led reform given the constant turnover of student leaders on campus. Faced with these challenges, in 2007 a group of students began to approach a fundamental question: How do student groups start working together, communicating, and collaborating with each other so that more concerted efforts can be made towards a more sustainable campus? And 1 Historically, student groups on campus have competed for funding from the Central Student Government, the main University of Michigan student body government (formerly known as the Michigan Student Assembly). 1

2 additionally, how can these efforts be sustained long-term and from class to class, especially given the stress and demands of other educational priorities of student leaders? Given these complex issues, Melissa Forbes (a PhD student in Sociology and Public Policy), Mark Shahinian (a law student), and Darshan Karwat (a PhD student in aerospace engineering) realized that the student environmental movement would benefit from the following four things: Clear, open communication amongst students allowing for stronger coalitions and collaborations; Guidance navigating the administrative structure of the University and connecting to strategic partners, allies and decision makers in the administration; Institutional memory of student efforts allowing student groups to build on the work of others; Thorough research supporting each demand or request made to the University. SSI was formed to facilitate these efforts. SSI is expressly charged with bridging the divide between students and the administration and to serve as a focal point for environmental action on campus. SSI receives generous financial and institutional support from the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute (Graham). Graham is the nexus of academic-related sustainability efforts on campus. The Director of Graham serves as the University President s Special Counsel on Sustainability and thus Graham is a natural place to house SSI on campus. SSI s Role The purpose of SSI is to facilitate collaboration among the various players on campus: students, faculty, and the administration. Rather than be the sustainability group, the goal of SSI is to allow for more effective communication among student groups, faculty, and administration, and to provide resources for these groups to execute successful projects, programs, and initiatives. SSI facilitates a funding program for student groups consisting of small-scale grants for projects and compostable material for zero-waste events, among other things. The SSI funding structure is intended to promote collaboration and communication among student groups, rather than a competitive, zero-sum bidding process. SSI is run by the SSI Board, a group of undergraduate and graduate students from a range of disciplines on campus. Although the SSI Board reports to staff at Graham, SSI operates largely independently of other groups on campus. The SSI Board members receive compensation for their work on the Board. The founding members felt that if students were paid for their time organizing for SSI, and expected to put in a requisite amount of effort each week, the student initiative would have a better chance of sustaining momentum and action. This did two things: it attracted motivated students that would take on the responsibility of pursuing sustainability on campus while also leading to better internal organization and more external directed effort. One goal of SSI is to facilitate communication between students and the administration. SSI is the organization administrators go to if they are looking for student input, and students to go if they have important messages they wanted to share with administrators. Because of the long-term relationships between SSI and the administration, it is much easier to schedule time for students to speak with administrators about a given issue. Furthermore, the institutional 2

3 memory of SSI provides a more organized and coherent voice to the administrators on behalf of student groups. Each new group of SSI leaders is thoroughly briefed about the history of the group, its past failures and successes, as well as about effective ways of communicating with students as well as administrators. Students and student groups on campus are able to use SSI as a sounding board for ideas, a place for resources, and as a way to connect with campus decision-makers and administrators. Requests and demands from the student body are thus taken more seriously. With preparation and support, students are able to come to administrators with workable steps towards leading the campus to long-term sustainability, which in turn has led to some great success on campus and the real possibility for continued progress. SSI and Student Groups SSI strives to bring together sustainability-minded student groups while also reaching out to other student groups to spread awareness of sustainability issues on campus. SSI does not, in any way, control environmental groups around campus, but does unite groups that seek to operate with similar goal-oriented, strategic, and well-planned actions. SSI serves as the main link between members of the student body interested in participating in, initiating, or providing feedback on environmental initiatives and members of the administration whose role it is to carry out or manage such projects. In order to ensure a steady flow of ideas and collaboration, the SSI Board meets regularly with constituents from each of these groups to discuss initiatives and conduct strategic planning for addressing environmental issues on campus. The SSI Board organizes monthly roundtables to connect with the broader student population (see below for details) in addition to meeting with individual groups or students on an ad-hoc basis. In addition, the Board meets once per month with representatives from Graham and the Office of Campus Sustainability (OCS). Graham is a collaborative partnership of schools, colleges and units across U-M which fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration to create and disseminate knowledge and to offer solutions related to complex sustainability issues. OCS is an arm of campus operations that is specifically focused on environmental sustainability. The purpose of these relationships/meetings is for the SSI Board to discuss the following (non-exhaustive) topics with the administration: New initiatives that have been brought up either by the Board or other members of SSI Issues that the Board feels should be addressed by the administration Progress on existing initiatives from all parties Guidance on who to talk with or how to approach new/existing projects Board Organization, Structure, and Selection 3

4 The SSI Board The SSI Board is the main point of contact for student-members, campus groups, and the administration on sustainability matters. The SSI Board shall consists of no fewer than one undergraduate student and one graduate student and no more than six total members. This distribution guarantees that the student voice is representative of all portions of the student body. It also ensures that there is a distribution of skills on the Board, including organizational structure, creativity, enthusiasm, and strategic planning skills. Note: The following responsibility descriptions and the actual responsibilities of Board members may be amended by action of the current Board. Any such amendment will be in effect until the choosing of a new SSI Board, when the default responsibilities of each member shall be those set forth below. Roles within SSI The roles within the SSI board have changed over time to be divided into specific positions, including zero-waste program management, grant oversight and supervision, communications and website/newsletter organization, and administrative coordination. These positions are open to modification for future Board members based on specific desires and needs. While the graduate and undergraduate student board members may have a certain focus within the group in terms of connecting with administration or within student organizations themselves, the positions based on various aspects of SSI s work are the primary focus of each member, regardless of being an undergraduate or graduate student. Zero Waste Program Management The zero waste program manager(s) is in charge of ordering and distributing compostable materials (plates, cups, silverware, compost bags) to student groups who use the program. The manager(s) must maintain a constant supply of compostable materials in the Graham office and set up meetings to distribute materials to student groups. It is the manager s job to inform the student group leaders about how to properly compost the materials to avoid contamination. The zero waste program also includes the opportunity to compost at large-scale events. The zero waste program manager(s) must make all necessary arrangements for large requested events. This position also includes maintaining updated zero waste information on the website, ordering compost bins and pick ups, advertising the program to all student groups and managing the budget. Note: During the school year, two Board members held this position. One Board member focused efforts on Central Campus while the other member focused on North Campus. Grant Program The two grant program coordinators are primarily in charge of publicity regarding SSI s grant opportunities, as well as communicating with previous and potential grantees. Additionally, these members will serve as a liaison between the SSI board and the Planet Blue Student Innovation Fund (PBSIF) board, which is designed for larger-scale grants on campus and will concurrently sit on the decision committee for grants given by PBSIF. These members are also in charge of updating SSI s grant criteria and connecting with administration regarding changes 4

5 or updates in grant allocations. Communications and Outreach The communications and outreach coordinator position entails compiling and sending the bi-weekly SSI newsletter as well managing the SSI website and strengthening social media presence on Facebook and Twitter. In addition, this member will serve as the main point person for events, such as the Sustainability Leaders Brunch and the monthly Roundtables. This member will represent SSI at campus events and foster collaboration with student organizations on large-scale events, such as Dance Marathon and TEDx. Administrative Coordinator The role of administrative coordinator and liaison includes developing and maintaining relationships with University administrators in administrative, operational, developmental, and outreach matters. This board member will serve as the contact between student groups and administration, faculty, and staff; the administrative coordinator/liaison will work to connect student organizations and other University stakeholders. This member is also responsible for keeping track of SSI s MaizePages account (including governance document, SSO agreement, etc.) Along with these responsibilities, this member will represent SSI in meetings with Planet Blue. Student Board Member, SSI All Student Board Members are responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with administrators, student organizations, students, and faculty at the University of Michigan who are interested in working with SSI. This includes existing relationships with SSI advisors, Graham, OCS, the Provost s Office, the Chief Financial Officer s office, and Office of Facilities and Operations. It may also include students already affiliated with SSI, students who want to know how to get involved, or faculty members interested in sustainability-related curriculum, student organizations, and/or research. These relationships are critical for successful collaboration between all parties on sustainability issues pertaining to the University of Michigan. Effective communication and collaboration allows SSI to better represent the student groups that it services and ensures maximum student involvement and fosters a high degree of creativity and success of initiatives. Student Board members are responsible for helping to fully develop and structure various student groups ideas into actionable plans to ensure the highest probabilities of success. This includes developing a well-researched plan including best practices, as well as a business case highlighting benefits for all parties involved. Once a well-developed case has been developed, it is the grant representatives responsibilities to organize and facilitate meetings with necessary University staff in order to ensure the success of various student groups plans. Additionally, Student Board members are required to help in managing the SSI internal financial budgeting and spending, in creating meeting agendas, and in keeping notes/minutes for SSI meetings. It is necessary that this student communicates regularly with SSI affiliates about SSI goals, activities, and progress. 5

6 Administrative tasks include developing agendas for weekly Board meetings as well as creating an agenda and running the monthly general member meetings (Roundtables) to facilitate collaboration among student groups. Ideal candidates are experienced in SSI, working with administration, benchmarking, and leading organizations. Other duties include marketing small grants and participating in the evaluation process for small grants and reaching out to student groups and administrators Board Member Selection Board members are selected for a year-long term, with the term beginning on or around April 1. Past Board members may be active in SSI longer than one year to train the new Board and it is highly encouraged that at least Board member serve for an additional one term or longer to smooth the Board turnover and transition. Advertising for the open Board positions should happen in a timely manner to allow for an appropriate vetting and interviewing process before the beginning of the term (April 1). Interviews are conducted in a three-stage process: (1) the current/outgoing SSI Board reviews all applications and selects qualified candidates to move on to the interview process; (2) the current/outgoing SSI Board interviews all applicants chosen to move on to the first-round interviews; (3) the Graham Sustainability Institute also has the ability to weigh-in on the final selection through a second-round interview should they choose to participate. Following their interviews, the Graham Sustainability Institute will provide interview feedback to the outgoing SSI Board, which will be considered in the Board s final selection. The outgoing Board then makes the final decision on new Board members, taking into consideration feedback from all interviewers. The outgoing SSI Board contacts all applicants to inform them of the final decision. In addition to suitability to perform the required tasks mentioned above, Board members are selected based on the following criteria: Proven commitment to furthering sustainability on campus Proven capacity to manage projects independently Strong verbal communication skills and capacity to interact with a broad range of constituents, parties, and interests Clear written communication skills and ability to effectively use software, social media, etc. Strong organizational skills, multi-tasking, and prioritization Board members are required to have two semesters remaining at the time they come onto the Board, and are recommended to have three. After their two-semester term is completed, they are expected to spend part of the third semester training and mentoring the new Board member during a transition period. 6

7 Activities Board Member Duties Each SSI Board member is expected to spend approximately 10 hours per week working on SSI-related activities. The Board is collectively responsible for the following major activities every year : Serving as the main point of contact for students and student groups wishing to pursue sustainability on campus: The SSI Board must seek out students wanting to participate in sustainability initiatives on campus, whether that be through developing ideas, participating in project teams to implement ideas, volunteering for specific events, drafting documentation, or doing research. Furthermore, the SSI Board must be responsive to incoming requests for participation (which are likely to be in the same form as those mentioned previously) and know when/how to either enlist the help of students on existing initiatives or support students wishing to develop new initiatives. As of September 2013 the convention is for Board Members to 1) hold a strategy session prior to the start of the year; 2) meet with advisors as needed; 3) share documents via Google Documents and Drop Box; and 4) hold additional meetings as needed. Voicing the opinions of the SSI Board and students to University administration: Since its inception, the SSI Board has been a vocal member of the university community. In addition to pushing for change through specific initiatives and progress, the Board has also voiced its opinion by writing letters to the administration, submitting editorials to the Michigan Daily, etc. These methods have proven successful in the past at influencing popular opinion on contentious issue related to environmental sustainability on campus. Organizing, hosting, and managing SSI roundtables: Once per month, the SSI Board invites all SSI members and other students / student groups interested in sustainability on campus to a roundtable discussion. The purpose of these meetings is for the SSI Board to provide students with an update on current initiatives; for students with new ideas or feedback to voice their opinions and make suggestions; for students looking to get involved to learn about what is going on around campus; and for members of existing to projects to announce what they are working on. Typically, these meetings are a good forum for occasional visits from the administration: this ensures that students outside of the decision-making process are able to hear first-hand what the administration is working on and if/how it is catering to the needs of students. Historically, roundtables have been held on Monday or Tuesday nights for 1 hour at a time in Dana (the SNRE building on campus). Attendance can range from 15 to 40 people. Requests for room reservations should be made directly to the SNRE Office of Academic Programming (OAP). Hosting an annual Sustainability Leaders Brunch: This brunch is held during the early part of each year (first semester) and is intended to organize and motivate environmental leaders from all around campus to work collaboratively and seek ways to work together on small and large scale campus sustainability efforts. Each Board member is responsible for sending a personalized or otherwise contacting a 7

8 portion of the environmental leaders from the master spreadsheet of environmental leaders on campus. The brunch lasts for an hour and a half, and may be held in an appropriate room as decided by the SSI Board. The format of the brunch includes a brief introduction by the Board, introductions by everyone present, a few brief motivational comments from anyone interested, networking time, and drafting sustainability goals for the coming year. Draft Student Sustainability Agenda: The Board will work with key sustainability leaders of campus to draft a yearly agenda. This agenda includes a description of the student goals as well as objectives for the upcoming school year. It is mirrors the structure of the goals that were generated by the Integrated Assessment facilitated by the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute; the document is meant to complement the Integrated Assessment and establish independent student goals that aim to further the university s goals. This document will be updated annually. Reviewing applications for small-scale grants: Please see below for more details. Additional Responsibilities: External communications management: Answering s from groups or individuals inquiring about SSI. Linking with the administration: Handling scheduling and communications with Graham and OCS. Grants and finance management: Being the primary reviewer of small-scale grant proposals, and monitoring the availability of funds for new applications throughout the year. Board meeting coordination: Organizing the weekly SSI Board meeting, reserving space, and ensuring the agenda is up-to-date. Website management: Ensuring that data on the web site is up-to-date and properly presented. Incorporating information onto sustainability.umich.edu Roundtable advertising: Communicating to the appropriate networks (listed in the appendix) information about the upcoming roundtable. This should be done at least three (3) days prior to the roundtable. Roundtable food/logistics management: Purchasing food for the roundtable and ensuring that the food is ready in time for the roundtable. Historically, the SSI Board has purchased food from the Ann Arbor food co-op (avocadoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, baby carrots, hummus, pita bread, regular bread, and cheese). The food generally costs $50-$70 for each roundtable. Food can be purchased using the P-card obtainable from Graham, and all receipts should be promptly returned to Graham (along with the sign-in sheet for the roundtable). Weekly Newsletter creation: Communicating the latest developments, projects, and news to the SSI member community. SSI Roundtable Listserv Management: Maintaining the list of students signed up to receive s related to SSI. Registering SSI as an official campus group each year: Renewal process is completed through the Center for Campus Involvement In addition to the responsibilities mentioned above, each Board member may develop, 8

9 manage, and follow-through with his/her own project. In addition to having one main point-person, each project should also have a secondary person to provide support and back-up to the owner in case the workload becomes too heavy. In the past, some examples of this have been: Advocating for and facilitating a fund earmarked for student-initiated sustainability-related projects on campus, which is called the Planet Blue Student Initiative Fund (PBSIF). Pursuing of a zero-waste basketball game and other zero-waste events Organizing a TEDx conference in Ann Arbor discussing sustainability Pushing for all new buildings on campus to be LEED certified Initiating the Planet Blue Student Ambassadors program, which places a point-person for sustainability in every dorm on the UM campus to promote sustainability Advocating to make events zero waste within your own school /community Funding Requests Procedures for External Funding Requests (Small-Scale Grants) The SSI Board is responsible for reviewing funding requests from students and student groups throughout the year. Requests are submitted to Graham and forwarded to the SSI Board for review and approval/rejection/comment. As of September 2016, Graham makes $13,000 available per fiscal year for student-initiated projects, and each project can apply for and be granted up to $2,500. Interested students can fill in the online form (the link is available on the SSI website or from the SSI Board) as well as the supplemental PDF document. The application will be considered complete only when the online form and the supplemental PDF are submitted along with the required supporting documents, including a budget table and justification, proposal narrative and information about the leadership team. It is also important to be proactive in informing the SSI Board about the outcome of the event. SSI also provides the opportunity for students to apply directly to zero waste their event. SSI has pre-purchased compostable dishware that students can obtain, pending the approval of their applications. SSI will cover the costs of hauling the compost, twice per year, per-member group. Grant Funding Guidelines Zero Waste: Waste diversion from campus events is a SSI funding priority for the school year. Please see our streamlined Zero Waste Grants for materials and composting for events with fewer than 100 attendees. Larger events should fill out the 100+ attendee event form. Food/Beverages: The SSI Board strives to fund as many projects as possible with limited funding availability. Due to this, funding food is not a priority in the delegation of grant funds. The Board favors projects that use food as an educational tool for sustainability, as opposed to food being used purely as a means to attract participants to an event. SSI does not fund alcohol. Response Time: Grant applications should allow 2-4 weeks prior to an event for the 9

10 application to be considered and any allocated funding dispersed. Please remember that our funding is on a rolling cycle and may run out prior to the end of the school year. The SSI Board requests that applications apply as far in advance as students are able to maximize the chance of funding. Procedures for Internal SSI Board Funding Requests There are certain times throughout the year when SSI Board members will need additional funds for specific activities or events, including mailings, meals, or t-shirt purchases. In these cases, there is no formal approval process. Any requests should be made directly to the director of Graham along with justification and the amount requested. Food and Beverage Policies The SSI Board adheres to the food and beverage policy of any building or academic program whose facilities it uses. SSI will not sell alcoholic beverages at any of its events. In the unlikely event that alcohol is to be present at an SSI-sponsored activity, the SSI Board will ensure that all guidelines, protocols, and safety measures specified in the University s Alcohol Policy will be followed. Full details can be found here: Risk Management and Insurance SSI is covered through the school s general liability insurance for any event or activity held in university facilities. If a participant is injured in an event directly overseen by SSI, the member of the SSI Board present will ensure that all appropriate steps are taken to ensure the person s safety in addition to completing any required documents per the University s risk management policy. Full details can be found here: Travel and Transportation The SSI Board and its members will follow the University s stated restrictions and guidelines on the use of motorized vehicles for events directly related to SSI. The guidelines stipulate that: The consumption of alcoholic beverages is prohibited All drivers must have a valid driver s license Valid insurance must be in place for any vehicle utilized Seat belts should be worn Cell phones should not be used by the driver 10