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Talking Heads “Burning Down the House” (via BVMTValternative)

Playing now in commonvision.

As campuses work on developing climate action plans and long term sustainability projects, a challenge that many face is how to balance the need (or desire) to grow in a way that won’t detract from the determined path toward sustainability.

Simply put, how does a campus adequately serve growing populations of students, increase the campus footprint, and add more facilities while also reducing their emissions and ensuring that the growth is sustainable? Who defines what “sustainable growth” even looks like on a campus? What are some of the unique challenges facing different types of institutions? How do goals of expansion differ at urban schools versus rural?

Keith H. Hirokawa, Assistant Professor of Law, and Patricia E. Salkin, Professor and Associate Dean of Law, at Albany Law School, sought to answer those questions and more in their recent publication, “Can Urban University Expansion and Sustainable Development Co-Exist?: A Case Study in Progress on Columbia University”(click title to download the full paper).

Keith and Patricia were kind enough to send me a brief overview of the paper (which is free to download here):

“A growing emphasis on sustainability has concerned university expansion over the last several years. Reaching consensus on a precise definition of "sustainability" in this context has proved somewhat elusive, as the word conjures different meanings to various stakeholder interests. The planned expansion of Columbia University offers an excellent case study for examining the diverse interpretations of sustainability and the exploring the efforts of the University to identify and implement a sustainable plan. In addition to planning and community outreach efforts, the University decided to proceed with a controversial eminent domain proceeding that resulted in protracted litigation. This article discusses various approaches to evaluating sustainability in higher education, with a focus on the experience of urban university expansion through an examination of Columbia University’s recent expansion project. “

I found the Columbia University case to be special in many ways, partly due to the sheer size of the expansion plans for an urban campus. Scheduled to occur in two phases, the plans include the addition of 6.8 million square feet for classrooms, research facilities, housing, and parking through the redevelopment of seventeen acres in a neighborhood called Manhattanville.

The paper thoroughly examines the competing definitions of what is classified as “sustainable” or “unsustainable” by different stakeholders, and discusses the different sustainability roles that higher education institutions play in their communities.

I am interested to hear from sustainability practitioners on campus – are you facing similar challenges on your campus? How are you balancing the need to grow with the sustainability goals of your campus?
 

The following one hour drop in sessions will be held in Engineering 025. DoIT staff members will be available to work one-on-one with with users who show up during the designated times.

Additional dates and times will be added as demand warrants.

This week’s New Yorker magazine has an article by Anthony Gottlieb on different voting systems, including range voting.

WIN OR LOSE: No voting system is flawless. But some are less democratic than others. Can theorists engineer a better way to elect candidates?

The article provides an interesting introduction to some of the voting systems that have been developed and used over the centuries and the advantages and vulnerabilities. There’s no mention of Scantegrity or security or the general issue of verifiability, however.

It’s actually in the Book’s section, so I guess it is ostensibly a review of a new book “Numbers Rule: The Vexing Mathematics of Democracy, from Plato to the Present” by journalist and mathematician George Szpiro.

The article also mentions a book by William Poundstone, “Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren’t Fair (and What We Can Do About It)” which is a steal on amazon for $5.00. Such a steal that I ordered two last week, one for me and one to share. Poundstone, btw, has written some good popular books on a wide range of topics (e.g., game theory, technical interviewing techniques, etc). I’ve read quite a few and both enjoyed them and learned things. According to Wikipedia, he is a cousin of comedian Paula Poundstone!