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The Daily Aztec
News
April 20 - 26, 2022 EDITOR: Katelynn Robinson • news@thedailyaztec.com
Students are disappointed in lack of climate action taken following protest by Catlan Nguyen EDITOR IN CHIEF
San Diego State’s second student-led climate protest last fall of 2021 was sparked by the university’s stagnant progress on student demands from the first protest in August 2019. Eight months after the second protest, what progress has the university made on the Climate Justice Strike Organization’s demands? Major demands the student-led organization advocated for initially included reaching carbon neutrality by 2030 for all of SDSU, creating a Chief Sustainability Officer position in President Adela de la Torre’s office and ensuring the SDSU Mission Valley campus will be carbon neutral. A former full-time SDSU employee (who wishes to remain anonymous to keep his current job) said he quit after six years because of harassment and bullying from the administration as he continued to advocate for sustainability changes. He said those with the power to enact substantial change at SDSU continually gave him excuses about the department’s inadequate funding. The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to progress being stalled, but that is not the only reason, Associated Students Board of Directors member Simran Jain said. “We just feel like there’s a lack of pressure because the university doesn’t really respect what student voice is,” the former A.S. Green Love Commissioner Jain said. “For at least the last five years, for sure, we have been making the exact same demands and there’s just been a lack of accountability.” Co-chair of the A.S. Green Love
Photo by Brittany Cruz-Ferejan
The Climate Strike protest in the fall 2021 semester brought many students together who demanded change from the university. So far, they have been disappointed in the university’s efforts.
Gardening Committee Eva Huber said the university also says lack of funding is a huge reason for the stagnant progress, but she along with other students refuse to accept that answer. “If SDSU actually does care about sustainability in the future, then they don’t have a choice but to invest in it,” Huber said. “It can’t be a conversation of ‘oh, we don’t have the money.’ It needs to be a conversation of ‘where are we getting this money?’ because these
changes need to happen.” Jain also said how only those in Green Love and other sustainability organizations on campus are aware of the university’s lack of progress. Climate Justice Strike Organization leader Gener Abdon said President Adela de la Torre’s email letter response to the organization after the September 2021 strike was unsatisfactory for students. “The way they sent the letter to us
was so patronizing,” the former senate sustainability co-chair Abdon said. “They act as if we didn’t know what we were talking about.” The university said, in regards to the first demand, that consultants who could provide cost estimates and plans for the 2030 deadline were selected late last fall. Their work began this past February, and they presented their findings yesterday, April 19 to get community feedback. Regarding the second demand, the new Office of Energy & Sustainability was established on Oct. 1, 2021, with Glen Brandenburg and Dave Weil serving as interim co-directors. The university said they’re actively identifying candidates for consideration and they plan to have an OE&S director on board within the next six to eight weeks. A Carbon Neutrality Feasibility Study – which started in summer of 2021 – encompasses CJSO’s demands one and three by researching and recommending ways to make the main campus and Mission Valley campus completely carbon neutral, according to the university. “It’s always about ‘studies, studies’ but there’s no action to actually help improve on these climate issues,” Abdon said. Many students in A.S., CJSO and the sustainability department said the university’s efforts are for display. “They’re just taught the buzzwords like ‘LEED certification’ and ‘composting,’” Jain said. “I do think
SEE SUSTAINABILITY, PAGE 3
Students, faculty petition against sustainability, technology fee, ‘It is the student’s money’ by Eugénie Budnik SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Following the forums for the proposed sustainability and technology fee, San Diego State professors and students have created a petition against new student fees’ implementation. “We are meant to be a university for education meant for future livelihood. Yet, we are funding things that are so insignificant,” A.S. Green Love Commissioner Olivia Humphrey said. “And now they’re asking students for that money – some of the lowest income adults are college students.” The petition was created by biology professor Scott Kelley and anthropology professor Savanna Schuermann with the help of several students. The petition cites several different financial resources SDSU and the California State University system holds including over $28 million in surplus parking fees and fines at the end of 2018, $45 million dollars for the naming rights for the new Mission Valley stadium, and $300,000 for a rebranding plan. San Diego State has not yet commented on the petition. In 2019, an audit found the CSU system had a $1.5 billion surplus
partially from student tuition put away as part of the system’s reserves. “When the state asked them why they needed this money they [the CSU] said that it was a part of their ‘reserves.’ It is not their money. It is the student’s money. It is the parent’s money, and it’s the taxpayers money,” Kelley said. The technology and sustainability fee proposal is not the first time that the university has demanded student fees against the wishes and needs of students. When the student health fee was increased from $85 to $150 per student in 2010, the Calpulli Center had to close its urgent care area due to staffing shortages even amidst the increase. Instead, the funding was used towards hiring more management positions. “We are tired of all these fees and fees, and also these alternative consultations which happen almost every single year,” A.S. Imperial Valley president Carlos Fitch said. Fitch said he is tired of the proposal of new student fees, and he is tired of the lack of communication and effort for SEE PETITION, PAGE 3
Photo by Brittany Cruz-Ferejan
Students and faculty have opposed the implementation of the sustainability and technology fee, which would be 66% allocated towards technology and 34% allocated towards sustainability.
