Universities as Leaders for Ecological Sustainability and Human Progress
Universities as Leaders for Ecological Sustainability and Human Progress
¡Hola! Today I want to discuss a book chapter assigned by my instructor, Dr. Martha Cleveland-Innes, in our EDDE-804 course: "Promises Made and Promises Lost: A Candid Assessment of Higher Education Leadership and the Sustainability Agenda", by Anthony D. Cortese. This in Chapter Two from the book "The Sustainable University:Green Goals and New Challenges for Higher Education Leaders", edited by James Martin and James Samels, and published by Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012.
To start, I must admit the text trapped me since it's the first material explicitly related to leadership and the environment in my Doctoral Programme. In addition, Cortese addresses a series of very relevant topics not only to the academia but to everybody in society: the urgence of dedicating conscious efforts in order to prevent further consequences of the destruction of the environment, and the role universities can play as agents of change but also as examples of sustainability.
As in previous posts in this blog, I will include a couple of quotes here to illustrate the writer's points along with a brief comment of my own.
First of all, sustainability pertains to all aspects of current society, not only to sciences or environmental sciences in particular:
"The road to sustainability is one of culture and values as much as it is about scientific and technological development. It must be guided by the arts, humanities, social and behavioral sciences, and religion as much as by the physical and natural sciences and engineering", (p. 3). In short, it is the academia itself the universal agora (university) where different disciplines meet guided by the goals of the common good. No field is outside the university, no school is beyond the interests of humanity (although neoliberal economists claim the opposite, for example).
Furthermore, universities must embrace head-on their role as agents of change and sustainable progress within society, by fulfilling their tripartite mission: teaching, research, and outreach (social action):
"As presidents, provosts, and trustees, in particular, assume leadership roles in helping to make this a reality, their institutions will operate as fully integrated communities that model social, economic and biological sustainability along with interdependence with their local, regional and global environments. In many cases, we think of teaching, research, operations and relations with local communities as separate activities; they are not. In fact, these activities form a flexible network of experience and learning, as all operational segments of a college or university system are critical to achieving this transformative change" (emphasis in the original, pp.3-4).
Thus, the Academia is under the pressure of two overwhelming circumstances. On the one hand, the "neoliberal assault", as Chomsky calls it, that seeks to generate precarization of the faculty, a bureacratic and opressive business model in the administration, and the reduction of funds allowed to education itself (to be expanded in a future post).
On the other hand, universities have to face the undeniable reality of climate change, global warming, the destruction of ecosystems and the exhaustion of natural resources. All of this implies that the "golden times" of the "ivory tower" are gone for good: universities, faculty and students share the duty of finding solutions and working together to lead society into a sustainable stage of Capitalism (if such thing is possible). As an educator and humanist, I believe humanism and sustainability are incompatible with capitalism, which will require a deeper debate and the actual transformation of the economic and social order of the present. Universities, once again, should be leaders in this process of transcendence of humanity into a superior order of equity, liberty, and peace with nature. This, however, escapes the scope of this brief post.
After giving some examples of higher education institutions who are making organizational and structural changes that will serve as models to others, including the opening of new majors in sustainability studies, and the foundation of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) in 2007, Cortese summarizes the mission of universities for this century as part of collaborative leadership:
"The positive impact of collective leadership by a large number of college and university leaders will be felt worldwide. Creating a sustainable society is a global challenge requiring solutions of immense proportions. The scale and speed of this challenge demand an unprecedented level of collaboration among leadership teams, boards of trustees, faculty, and students because actions by individual institutions will not be sufficient" (emphasis in the original, p.6).
Are we, as present and future educational leaders in higher education up to the task ahead? I have no doubts that the obstacles and challenges are huge, but the dire need of change and new horizons for humanity in harmony with nature and fellow human beings, born and yet to be born, should spur us into action and guide our efforts in the decades to come. There is only one planet, and there is no "else" in this quest.
For further reference, here's a link to the "List of 45 sustainable campus networks and green university initiatives worldwide" (including ARIUSA in Latin America):
http://rootability.com/sustainable-campus-and-green-university-networks-and-initaitives/
To start, I must admit the text trapped me since it's the first material explicitly related to leadership and the environment in my Doctoral Programme. In addition, Cortese addresses a series of very relevant topics not only to the academia but to everybody in society: the urgence of dedicating conscious efforts in order to prevent further consequences of the destruction of the environment, and the role universities can play as agents of change but also as examples of sustainability.
As in previous posts in this blog, I will include a couple of quotes here to illustrate the writer's points along with a brief comment of my own.
First of all, sustainability pertains to all aspects of current society, not only to sciences or environmental sciences in particular:
"The road to sustainability is one of culture and values as much as it is about scientific and technological development. It must be guided by the arts, humanities, social and behavioral sciences, and religion as much as by the physical and natural sciences and engineering", (p. 3). In short, it is the academia itself the universal agora (university) where different disciplines meet guided by the goals of the common good. No field is outside the university, no school is beyond the interests of humanity (although neoliberal economists claim the opposite, for example).
Furthermore, universities must embrace head-on their role as agents of change and sustainable progress within society, by fulfilling their tripartite mission: teaching, research, and outreach (social action):
"As presidents, provosts, and trustees, in particular, assume leadership roles in helping to make this a reality, their institutions will operate as fully integrated communities that model social, economic and biological sustainability along with interdependence with their local, regional and global environments. In many cases, we think of teaching, research, operations and relations with local communities as separate activities; they are not. In fact, these activities form a flexible network of experience and learning, as all operational segments of a college or university system are critical to achieving this transformative change" (emphasis in the original, pp.3-4).
Thus, the Academia is under the pressure of two overwhelming circumstances. On the one hand, the "neoliberal assault", as Chomsky calls it, that seeks to generate precarization of the faculty, a bureacratic and opressive business model in the administration, and the reduction of funds allowed to education itself (to be expanded in a future post).
On the other hand, universities have to face the undeniable reality of climate change, global warming, the destruction of ecosystems and the exhaustion of natural resources. All of this implies that the "golden times" of the "ivory tower" are gone for good: universities, faculty and students share the duty of finding solutions and working together to lead society into a sustainable stage of Capitalism (if such thing is possible). As an educator and humanist, I believe humanism and sustainability are incompatible with capitalism, which will require a deeper debate and the actual transformation of the economic and social order of the present. Universities, once again, should be leaders in this process of transcendence of humanity into a superior order of equity, liberty, and peace with nature. This, however, escapes the scope of this brief post.
After giving some examples of higher education institutions who are making organizational and structural changes that will serve as models to others, including the opening of new majors in sustainability studies, and the foundation of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) in 2007, Cortese summarizes the mission of universities for this century as part of collaborative leadership:
"The positive impact of collective leadership by a large number of college and university leaders will be felt worldwide. Creating a sustainable society is a global challenge requiring solutions of immense proportions. The scale and speed of this challenge demand an unprecedented level of collaboration among leadership teams, boards of trustees, faculty, and students because actions by individual institutions will not be sufficient" (emphasis in the original, p.6).
Are we, as present and future educational leaders in higher education up to the task ahead? I have no doubts that the obstacles and challenges are huge, but the dire need of change and new horizons for humanity in harmony with nature and fellow human beings, born and yet to be born, should spur us into action and guide our efforts in the decades to come. There is only one planet, and there is no "else" in this quest.
For further reference, here's a link to the "List of 45 sustainable campus networks and green university initiatives worldwide" (including ARIUSA in Latin America):
http://rootability.com/sustainable-campus-and-green-university-networks-and-initaitives/
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