A sinking SHIP
A sustainability fund would have been a major accomplishment for the Hopkins community. The energy-saving measure would have eased University investment in a greener campus. The result would be two-fold: The University's energy expenditures would decrease and it would positively impact this campus.
Harvard University pioneered such an initiative in 2000, which ended up saving Harvard $3,847,587 per year. Earlier this year it appeared that certain steps were being taken to implement the fund, but with a meeting held just before spring break, the administration drastically changed the initiative.
A divergence from the Harvard program is not necessarily a negative move. What may have been successful at Harvard may not work at Hopkins. This page has no problem with the University implementing a program that differs in execution but has equitable or better results than Harvard.
The initiative, which will now be called the Sustainable Hopkins Infrastructure Program (SHIP), was initially offered to Student Council and the rest of the student body as a loan program that would have a pool of capital, this pool would fund student-initiated programs to make Hopkins more environmentally sound.
This was the plan that the Council voted on, but when reviewing the initiative, the administration, with minimal input from student body representatives, dramatically altered the project. Now individual departments will have to raise the funds to pursue green projects.
The reason offered by the administration for this change was that creating a pool of funds, as the Harvard initiative does, would not be fitting for Hopkins's constrained budget.
We acknowledge that money is an issue, as it always is. The intention of this initiative is to save money. However, investing a little bit of the University's funds today will save it money later. Under this new SHIP there is little institutional guarantee that enough funds will be there for investment in green reforms.
Harvard University pioneered such an initiative in 2000, which ended up saving Harvard $3,847,587 per year. Earlier this year it appeared that certain steps were being taken to implement the fund, but with a meeting held just before spring break, the administration drastically changed the initiative.
A divergence from the Harvard program is not necessarily a negative move. What may have been successful at Harvard may not work at Hopkins. This page has no problem with the University implementing a program that differs in execution but has equitable or better results than Harvard.
The initiative, which will now be called the Sustainable Hopkins Infrastructure Program (SHIP), was initially offered to Student Council and the rest of the student body as a loan program that would have a pool of capital, this pool would fund student-initiated programs to make Hopkins more environmentally sound.
This was the plan that the Council voted on, but when reviewing the initiative, the administration, with minimal input from student body representatives, dramatically altered the project. Now individual departments will have to raise the funds to pursue green projects.
The reason offered by the administration for this change was that creating a pool of funds, as the Harvard initiative does, would not be fitting for Hopkins's constrained budget.
We acknowledge that money is an issue, as it always is. The intention of this initiative is to save money. However, investing a little bit of the University's funds today will save it money later. Under this new SHIP there is little institutional guarantee that enough funds will be there for investment in green reforms.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Dan Teran
posted 4/01/08 @ 6:22 PM EST
Hi,
This is Dan Teran, the founder of the so-called sinking SHIP. I was concerned and disheartened to read this page of the newsletter, as it fuses warranted skepticism with glaring inaccuracies. (Continued…)
Jason
posted 4/02/08 @ 12:38 PM EST
The author continuously references "green" and cites potential savings in adopting "green" methods but never provides any real detail on which a reader can form an educated opinion. (Continued…)
Marc Perkins
posted 4/03/08 @ 11:42 AM EST
The "SHIP" is probably the most financially-sound, pragmatic, environmentally-friendly, and achievable initiatives that I have ever seen come out of Student Council. (Continued…)
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