The Student Government Association gauged a range of reactions and discussed the data they gathered from the Emerson community at its Feb. 21 meeting after receiving 239 responses from its survey about Emerson’s endowment and tabling on campus.
The survey asked people to select their top four short term and top four long term goals and priorities. Responses were relatively the same between these two prompts, according to Executive Vice President Kayla Armbruster, with financial aid skyrocketing at number one.
“By far, financial aid was number one [for] peoples’ goals and priorit[ies],” Armbruster said. “A little under 90% clicked that off as one of their [top] priorities.”
The survey also asked, on a scale of 1-10, how comfortable people are with SGA potentially investing in the endowment. “[The] rating is 6.97, which is passing,” she said. “[It’s] a little skewed because so many people don’t know what an endowment [is].”
At the meeting, Executive Treasurer Oliver Katz discussed issuing a new survey that was more anonymous—the survey SGA used asked for students’ graduation year and email, which were required.
Chief Justice Georgia Winn said that the hope is for the new survey to be more reflective and informative on what an endowment is. Both her and Katz believe collecting more data will help gauge more feedback from the Emerson community SGA can discuss.
“[A new survey would] allow us to put more demographic information, understanding where [the] student body is coming from.” Winn said.
There were some concerns from meeting members about how much knowledge SGA has on the details of the college’s endowment.
“[Does SGA] know what endowment goes into, do we only have access to numbers or specifics?” Marlboro Interdisciplinary (IDS) Senator Ocean Muir asked.
Katz said the money primarily goes into mutual funds, like investment programs funded by investors or shareholders, and that the college “doesn’t know” how the investment committee, who handles the college’s endowment, makes investment decisions. Emerson’s endowment is “long-term financial support” for the college and is “invested in perpetuity.”
“[SGA], to some degree, had to settle in some ways,” Katz said, adding that choosing to donate to the endowment is a moral decision. “We have to reckon with the fact that it could be going to some really awful things, but it can also benefit us here in some really good ways for a long time.” Katz did not specify what he was referring to.
“We did ask those questions, [and] unfortunately [were] not met with a lot of answers,” Armbruster said.
“If we endow, we can delegate where the profit is going as well,” Public Relations Coordinator Bry Hession said.
Armbruster reminded the general assembly that SGA still has $1 million if it does not invest.
“You guys are the senators for [a] reason, these are your constituents,” she said. “Understand how it can be uncomfortable, share opinions with us for those who don’t feel comfortable to come to general assembly.”
Later in the meeting, SGA also heard from Associate Director of Sustainability Jennifer Lamy who discussed sustainability planning at Emerson and how the Office of Sustainability works with campus partners to set and achieve sustainability goals on campus. Currently, the sustainability action plan is to have carbon neutrality by 2030.
“What conversations [do people] within Emerson Sustainability have about accessibility?” Student Accessibility Senator Karli Wallace asked.
“[A] big thing [is making] general resources more accessible,” Lamy said, “[like] get resources on what do we need to do on our blog [so it’s] accessible.”
Community Service Senator Hazel Fitzpatrick is also one of four student sustainability fellows part of the sustainability team. Lamy and Sustainability Coordinator Jacqui Moy both work full-time on the team.
“[We] can’t do this work without student participation,” Lamy said. One program Lamy brought up was Griff Gives Sustainable Living Program. At the end of the semester, students can donate many items—minifridges, microwaves, clothes, and bedding—for incoming students during move-in.
Other ways students can contribute to sustainability are by attending regular campus events, the Teach-In on Sustainability, and participating in diverting their waste. Additionally, Emerson is working on having better diversion composting and recycling, according to Lamy.
“Even before Covid, [we] are increasing waste that comes out of campus, 365 pounds of waste per person per year,” Lamy said. “A lot of other colleges are ahead [diverting].” According to Lamy, Emerson’s diversion is 20%, which is an improvement from previous years but still continues to be a big area of focus.
The Office of Sustainability also collaborates with the Boston Green Ribbon Commission, according to Lamy. The GRC engages with diverse business and civic leaders who “serve on at least one of five different working groups.” It has a 2050 neutrality goal, last updated on June 28, 2022.
The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs offered the Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2050 on December 21, 2022. Challenges stated in the plan include “clean energy technologies,” and “one area of common interest is coordinated electrification.” The plan also stated workforce development is “critical” to “cross-sectoral coordination.”
“Generally the hardest thing is reaching students,” Lamy said. “[We] want to make sure students know we have these ambitious goals.”
