Students, Simmons talk global change in NOLA event
Alex Seitz-Wald
Issue date: 3/17/08 Section: Campus News
College students and presidents from across the country - including Brown students and President Ruth Simmons - convened in New Orleans this weekend along with former President Bill Clinton, Brad Pitt and James Carville to discuss pressing global issues at the Clinton Global Initiative University Conference.
The conference, part of the Clinton Global Initiative, asked each attending student or college president to make a "commitment to action," and focused on energy and climate change, global health, human rights, and poverty alleviation, according to attendees. The conference was intended to empower participants with the tools and contacts necessary to follow through on their projects.
Commitments should be "new, specific and measurable," according to the CGI U Web site. In one example, Michael Glassman '09, Undergraduate Council of Students president, made the commitment to help install compact florescent light bulbs in low income housing in Providence. Glassman said he met students who are working on similar projects at CGI U and plans to keep in touch with them.
A number of Brown students at the conference committed to help organize the Brown Is Green conference on climate change and sustainability. The conference, which will take place from April 24 to 26, will bring speakers and activists to campus, according to Dan MacCombie '08.
MacCombie, who is helping to coordinate Brown Is Green, said the CGI U event was "a really good, professional conference on a lot of the issues we're working on."
The conference began on Friday night with a reception and continued on Saturday with panel discussions. During the two sessions, experts in each of the four CGI U issue-areas addressed the attendees and fielded questions.
On Sunday, attendees were encouraged to participate in service projects in New Orleans' Ninth Ward, a neighborhood that was particularly affected by Hurricane Katrina.
The conference featured a special session on rebuilding New Orleans so as to make it environmentally sustainable that Simmons attended, said Marisa Quinn, assistant to the president.
The conference, part of the Clinton Global Initiative, asked each attending student or college president to make a "commitment to action," and focused on energy and climate change, global health, human rights, and poverty alleviation, according to attendees. The conference was intended to empower participants with the tools and contacts necessary to follow through on their projects.
Commitments should be "new, specific and measurable," according to the CGI U Web site. In one example, Michael Glassman '09, Undergraduate Council of Students president, made the commitment to help install compact florescent light bulbs in low income housing in Providence. Glassman said he met students who are working on similar projects at CGI U and plans to keep in touch with them.
A number of Brown students at the conference committed to help organize the Brown Is Green conference on climate change and sustainability. The conference, which will take place from April 24 to 26, will bring speakers and activists to campus, according to Dan MacCombie '08.
MacCombie, who is helping to coordinate Brown Is Green, said the CGI U event was "a really good, professional conference on a lot of the issues we're working on."
The conference began on Friday night with a reception and continued on Saturday with panel discussions. During the two sessions, experts in each of the four CGI U issue-areas addressed the attendees and fielded questions.
On Sunday, attendees were encouraged to participate in service projects in New Orleans' Ninth Ward, a neighborhood that was particularly affected by Hurricane Katrina.
The conference featured a special session on rebuilding New Orleans so as to make it environmentally sustainable that Simmons attended, said Marisa Quinn, assistant to the president.