November 12, 2001
Task force looks to green Emory By Michael Terrazas mterraz@emory.edu
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Last spring, after a lengthy discussion that stretched to every corner
of the University, Emory formally adopted an Environmental Mission Statement
to crystallize its relationship with all things environmental. Now the
time has come to put those ideals into action. The job of determining how this can be done falls to a 20-member implementation
task force, recruited and charged by President Bill Chace, that recently
began its work in earnest. Chaired by Erick Gaither, senior associate
vice president for business management, the task force has the daunting
task of converting somewhat amorphous ideas into concrete structures and
guidelines. Everyone on the task force takes this very seriously, Gaither
said. Weve rolled up our sleeves and started to work. To date, the task force has formed three subcommittees: the first will
determine what sort of resources the task force needs to do its work and
is chaired by Senior Vice Provost Charlotte Johnson; the second will catalog
Emorys existing environmental programs and policies, and it is chaired
by law Professor William Buzbee; and the third subcommittee will look
at the best practices of other institutions to determine what ideas might
work well at Emory. This last subcommittee is chaired by anthropology Professor Peggy Barlett,
who was instrumental last year in guiding the Environmental Mission Statementavailable
in its entirety at www.environment.emory.edu/who/mission.shtmlthrough
the various campus channels before it was approved by the University Senate
in March. The task force is very diverse, Barlett said, referring to
its broad membership of faculty, staff, administrators and students. But
we all feel a lot of satisfaction with the broad range of participants.
Ive been very pleased with how much Ive learned in just the
two business meetings weve had. Gaither also praised the breadth of the task force and said the initial
gatherings were devoted to bringing everyone up to speed on environmental
challenges facing not only Emory but the entire Atlanta area. Still, there is not much time for backgroundChaces charge
to the task force was to report back with a plan of action within six
to eight months. Everybody on the task force feels the pressure of time, Barlett said. We want to get something done this year. We dont want it to sort of fall through the cracks by lasting too long, so were all working hard. |