By KATIE McHUGH
News Editor
[email protected]
The Allegheny Student Government agenda aims to improve sustainability initiatives this coming year as new officers take the place of the old.
ASG appointed Brian Anderson, ’13, as director of sustainability and environmental Services.
“I think Allegheny as a college and as an institution has wholeheartedly said, yes, we’re going to do sustainability stuff in the future,” Anderson said. “Hopefully, people will get involved in ASG in general, but hopefully in sustainable initiatives as well.”
Anderson plans to build on the legacy left by former directors of sustainability by investing time in coordinating with environmentally-focused student groups, such as Students for Environmental Action, along with Parkhurst, the administration, ASG senators, and other interested students. His possible plans include introducing more water filters and reusable containers in order to campus to cut down on waste.
“Those things interest me personally, but I really don’t know at this point,” Anderson said. “It depends on the consensus of the committee that forms.”
Former Sustainability Director and current ASG Chief of Staff Ian Colley, ’13, supports Anderson’s goal of raising awareness of the potentially harmful environmental impact of the local Tires-to-energy plant.
“As chief of staff, my priorities obviously lie elsewhere, to promote ASG and the campus as a whole,” said Colley. “But I am definitely significantly invested in this already, so I’m going to be here to help and raise awareness as best I can.”
Colley also plans to use other channels on campus to push ASG’s sustainability message.
“Personally, I’m working through ResLife because my job is in ResLife,” he said. “That’s a group of students who are well-connected to every other student. So that’s who I’m mostly working through to raise awareness in the student body… I’ve been pressuring [President] Mullen to talk about it for some time.”
Vice President Lauren Nord, ’13, came into position after former ASG vice president, Sydney Cordell, announced she would not be returning to Allegheny for the fall semester.
“When the vacancy opened up, [ASG President Tyler Gund] spoke to me about moving into that position, and I was willing to do that, and I was very excited about it, because I’ve worked very closely with Tyler for years in ASG,” Nord said.
Nord emphasized the importance of putting forth a welcoming atmosphere and accessibility to students looking for a more interactive relationship with their student government.
“Our goals are really working on the image of ASG and changing it from the money-supplier organization,” continued Nord. “It’s a big part of who we are, but [we] also [want to be] a welcoming environment for clubs that need to request money or need help forming constitutions, or new clubs that want to form.”
