Anderson+Updated+Pilot+Research

Notes in notebook...will scan tomorrow.
 * Power Shift 2013**

I first heard about TGIF sometime in early spring 2011, I think. AC (SSTF chair) or JW (EcoLogic president) mentioned it. I definitely remember BH giving a presentation on TGIF to HRGG during a meeting I was at. TGIF was this big project that people were working on. Lots of people in the then-large sustainability movement at RPI were working on it. Basically, students would all contribute to this fund, which could then be used for huge sustainability projects. //Problem: framing.// Some students felt that they already paid enough to RPI. They felt that the administration should already be doing sustainability projects (renewable energy, retrofitting, etc.). Some felt that other priorities came first, before sustainability. Other people didn't care about sustainability. A Facebook event, "Students against a $12 raise in activity fee", was formed. //Problem: jurisdiction.// Originally, TGIF was to be a referendum. However, it did not meet the requirements of a referendum under the Student Senate and Union rules. It had to be instituted by students, per a conversation with RPI administration. It ended up being a poll. Due to various circumstances that included the framing and the huge anti-TGIF movement, the poll found students to be against TGIF. //Problem: loss of momentum.// Following TGIF, there was a huge fall out of interest in sustainability projects. It is hard to know how much of that stems from LC leaving in Fall 2011, the chairs following AC, the fact that people graduated/became too busy for SSTF, as well as from the failure of TGIF. The structure of SSTF needs a particular kind of leader: knowledgeable, helpful, friendly, and able to delegate. Projects should be run by members, with the chair as the facilitator. The chair knows what is going on, but is not leading every single project. SSTF also needs more students active in it than the current handful.
 * TGIF (shows barriers) **

This is a subject on which I'll have to be careful what I say, since I'm privy to more information than most students, including information that I have been told is to be kept confidential. However, there is a leadership honorary society at RPI. People in the leadership society are involved in a variety of activities, from sustainability efforts to student government to student media to being an RA. Many people are involved in more than one of those activities. One advantage for sustainability is that people in the leadership society who are very involved in sustainability know people who are in leadership positions in other organizations, including student government. They can discuss ideas informally and have to worry less about being judged. It is also not totally weird to go to a Senate committee meeting, like I did last Thursday, to explain SSTF's projects and also listen to some of the committee's projects and try to help them. I've also met some great people who are going to go far through being in the junior leadership society. They exposed my mind to new ideas, including encouraging me to get more involved. Because I was a freshman when I got in (rare), these sophomores were my mentors in a way. I really doubt that I was the only one to be affected in a positive way.
 * RPI Student Leadership (facilitator)**

//The Poly// is read by the administration and parents as well as students. I actually received an e-mail last week regarding my sustainability article in the paper the previous week. SSTF has a column every other week in //The Poly//. Because I'm on //The Poly//, people on the newspaper are a lot happier about the column. They know I'll get it to them in time, tell them if it's late, proofread it first, etc. Columns can be a real headache if they come from an outside person. Depending on people in the media's view on sustainability, student media can also be a barrier.
 * RPI Student Media (facilitator + barrier)**


 * Colleges: preliminary research to determine case studies**

Bard [] (link right there at top of main website) [|C2C] [|constitution] 8 clubs in [|environmental category] one club, Environmental Collective, seems to be working on divestment

Cornell [|budgeting/club funding] [|Sustainability Hub] [|Vegan Society] [|http://cusd.cornell.edu/] [|Cornell Energy Club] [|Energy Corps] [|Sustainable Campus]

MIT [|Sustainability website] [|undergraduate sustainability committee] [|charter thing that MIT is a member of (and RPI is not)]