Presidents in Action: Infusing Sustainability into
Campus Life
By Karen I. Halbersleben
Defining sustainability is relatively easy; leading a
college in consistently sustainable ways is not. As the president of a
college that has striven to be the nation's leading environmental
liberal arts college for more than 35 years, I learned early on that I
was shouldering the responsibility not only for stewarding my college's
current resources, but also for leading us forward in a way that would
anticipate and honor the needs of those who will follow us, out to "the
seventh generation." Defining a sustainable community means nothing more
complex than meeting our needs today in ways that will not compromise
future generations' ability to meet theirs. Leading a sustainable
community means nothing less complex than adopting a discipline of
leadership that adds the seventh generation to the decision-making
process. Serving as president of a learning community totally devoted to
sustainability has proved an engaging, often frustrating challenge, and
always an honor. . . .
Excerpted from the winter 2008 issue of The
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