At BUCC meeting, U. announces $350,000 to support environmental projects
U. to cut carbon emissions nearly 40 percent by 2020
Isabel Gottlieb
Issue date: 10/10/07 Section: Campus News
At the Brown University Community Council meeting on Tuesday, Walter Hunter, vice president of administration and the University's chief risk officer, made an unusual request that everyone present turn on their cell phones. A moment later, a chorus of phones around the room began to ring. The BUCC members answered their phones to hear a recording of Hunter's voice say, "This is Walter Hunter. Please let everyone in the room know you got the message by saying, 'I got it.' Thank you. You may hang up."
The unusual flurry of cell phone activity was Hunter demonstrating the University's new emergency contact system, a system called MIR3 which enables administrators to contact students and faculty via cell phone, text message, e-mail, fax or landline phone. Hunter said University officials were looking for such a system even before the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in April.
In addition to taking part in the emergency alert demonstration, BUCC members discussed the rules governing political speakers on campus and key University environmental initiatives, notably that $350,000 had been committed to new community environmental projects.
Following the Energy and Environmental Advisory Committee's recommendations last spring that Brown invest in environmentally-friendly endeavors, Simmons commissioned $150,000 toward projects that will decrease greenhouse gas emissions, raise environmental awareness and change people's behavior on campus and in Providence. At the meeting, Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration, announced that the Sidney E. Frank Foundation would add a $200,000 gift to that sum, making a total of $350,000 available for environmental initiatives on campus.
The money will support student, faculty and staff projects that deal with sustainability and energy efficiency in the local community. A committee will be formed to oversee the distribution of the funding. "This is a community issue for all of us to weigh in on," Huidekoper said. "We should advise the administration on how to manage this."
The unusual flurry of cell phone activity was Hunter demonstrating the University's new emergency contact system, a system called MIR3 which enables administrators to contact students and faculty via cell phone, text message, e-mail, fax or landline phone. Hunter said University officials were looking for such a system even before the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in April.
In addition to taking part in the emergency alert demonstration, BUCC members discussed the rules governing political speakers on campus and key University environmental initiatives, notably that $350,000 had been committed to new community environmental projects.
Following the Energy and Environmental Advisory Committee's recommendations last spring that Brown invest in environmentally-friendly endeavors, Simmons commissioned $150,000 toward projects that will decrease greenhouse gas emissions, raise environmental awareness and change people's behavior on campus and in Providence. At the meeting, Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration, announced that the Sidney E. Frank Foundation would add a $200,000 gift to that sum, making a total of $350,000 available for environmental initiatives on campus.
The money will support student, faculty and staff projects that deal with sustainability and energy efficiency in the local community. A committee will be formed to oversee the distribution of the funding. "This is a community issue for all of us to weigh in on," Huidekoper said. "We should advise the administration on how to manage this."