Flying towards my Master’s project

6

January 29, 2014 by Caity Stuart

Today I board a plane to do something I never thought imaginable.

For my last semester as a graduate student, I have two tasks to complete: finish my Master’s project (the equivalent of a thesis) and complete a 2nd internship. I guess you could say that I had an idea as to what my Master’s project would be the minute I started at Antioch back in the fall of 2012. I knew that I would be working with my alma mater, Anderson University.

This is the exact moment when everything clicked for me. “We so easily praise the development of this technology only to quickly discard it and for it to become the demise of other people.” Photo credit: Josh Weiger

As an undergrad at AU between the years of 2006-2010, I grew to discover a passion for Sustainability*. Why? Because I saw first-hand on my first Tri-S trip how we as humans unintentionally and yet destructively cause harm to other humans through the treatment of our Earth. As a life-long student of the Christian faith, I was constantly being taught to “love my neighbor as myself.” While I could write a book dissecting the semantics and context of that verse, I came realize that my “neighbor,” regardless of if that person was known or unknown, was inadvertently affected by decisions we make as a human race to treat our Environment (this 20 minute award-winning clip explains thought more eloquently and effectively than I do). While some of my friends decided to literally join service groups titled “neighbors,” I decided to approach the issue by getting involved with Sustainability.

While at AU, I joined the student group called “Orange, Black, and Green.” I joined the Recycling Committee. I joined the Sustainability Committee. I created my own minor (technically called Cognate) titled “Environmental Justice,” including classes such as “Environmental Racism,” “Environmental Ethics,” and “Environmental Politics.” For my last year at school, I filled the position of Director of Environmental Affairs for Student Government (SGA). During that position, I helped to create the first campus garden. While at AU, my passion grew. And yet, I’m sure this may be the way with many others whose passions fuel their very beings, I was confused as to why others weren’t catching on.

I was confused why the University was, so it seemed, appeasing my interest and yet not realizing the importance of adopting it themselves. If I had embraced Sustainability because of my religious convictions, why weren’t others at AU? To me it seemed as if it would be an obvious choice.

I remember when trying to convince the SGA senators to adopt my position that I stated it was not as if I was trying to get them to like a specific sport, such as my beloved Baseball. It was not as if Sustainability was a subject on its own that people should learn to insert into their already busy lives. Rather, the topic of Sustainability permeates our very fiber, seeps into everything that we do whether we like it or not.

While SGA acknowledged that sentiment for the next school year, I realized as I was graduating and leaving that school that without student interest and a dedicated champion to pursue the cause, Sustainability would fall dormant at AU.

Unfortunately, I was right.

Given that AU was where my passion was birthed AND that I believe that the school has great potential where Sustainability is concerned, I made my way to grad school and decided to do something about it.

After sharing my numerous ideas with friends and colleagues, a dear friend of mine at Antioch approached me with interest in joining this project and with a suggestion as to what specifically to focus on. We do only have a semester, after all.

Originally I was planning on designing a Sustainability Program to hand over to the University upon completion. However, my friend (and now project partner) Kim helped me to realize that there have been many things come and go regarding Sustainability at AU and most have not stuck. Why? What forces at AU are making that happen? Do people not want to see Sustainability on campus? Or they do but they need it to be spoken about in a different language, so to speak? Kim helped me to realize that before creating anything else, we need to conduct an Evaluation of the campus. We need to ask these very questions to the people who are currently there.

Luckily we both took a class last semester to prepare us for this project. We have been in planning mode since mid-October of last year (2013).

Fast-forward to today.

Part of the Evaluation process is to collect that data, to ask those tough questions. But we’re in New England. AU is in Indiana.

Here’s the kicker: AU agreed that, while they won’t pay us for our work (which was to be expected), they will fully fund our transportation to IN to conduct our research. Kim and I are flying to Indiana today purely for business: to interview and lead focus groups with people to understand the readiness (or willingness) and capacity (what resources do they already have?) of Anderson University to integrate Sustainability into its campus framework. We will return twice more throughout the semester: once in early March to collect a lot more information and another in early May to present our findings and suggestions for next steps.

What will happen after the semester? I have no clue. But I know one thing is for sure: I saw a need in a community that I care deeply about and I’m doing something about it. More importantly, at the close of this project, I am simply providing suggestions. I will not be the one charged with making any change at AU. They will. And I’m ok with that. I’m ok with giving it one last push, with sharing my new knowledge with a group of people that I think could greatly benefit from it. And I’m ok with not owning the need to see it through.

Thus the reason why I couldn’t be more excited for this project: it puts what I’ve learned to great use for a community I hold dear AND it allows me to walk away come the close of the project.

Ready or not, AU, here we come.

 

*I realize that the word “Sustainability” has been defined perhaps in too many different ways. That will be part of the project to understand how people at AU define Sustainability and if there is a common ground in which to support a collective definition on campus. How do I define it? A wise old professor of mine at Antioch put it this way: “Sustainability is about being in right relationship; right relationship with yourself, your health and your body, right relationship with your family, your neighborhood, your community, right relationship with your government, local and federal, right relationship with your Environment, with the surrounding ecosystems, etc.” The list goes on. If you notice, it was not until the end that he referenced Sustainability as having anything to do with the Earth or “going green.” Rather, Sustainability is a web, it is a system of all Life in balance. One thing affects another, like it or not. When he said the words “right relationship,” I swear my jaw dropped to the floor. If those aren’t words describing the roots of Christianity, then I don’t know what they are.