Though it wasn’t on the agenda, the environment became a major theme at the Western Michigan University Board of Trustees’ meeting Wednesday. The Board heard from the public on two separate issues, fossil fuel divestment and plans to develop land that Western owns in southwest Kalamazoo.
Western professor and Kalamazoo City Commissioner Don Cooney has advocated for the university to drop any investments it holds in non-renewable energy. He told trustees that it’s inconsistent for a school committed to stopping climate change to earn money from fossil fuels.
"As Stanford professor Elizabeth Tallent has written, if a university seeks to educate extraordinary youth so that they might achieve the brightest future, what does it mean for that university to simultaneously invest in the destruction of that future?" he asked.
University President Dunn responded to Cooney, saying that divestment was “complex” but said he sees an “opportunity” for discussion.
The greatest share of public comments came from opponents of the university’s plans to develop most of Colony Farm Orchard, a 54-acre parcel on the edge of Western’s Asylum Lake property. Student Kestrel Marcel told the Board the plans leave her with a bad conscience about studying at the university.
"WMU has earned Tree Campus USA status for numerous years in a row. How can a Tree Campus USA intend to level so much mature ecosystem?" she asked.
University President Dunn and Board members asked the speakers follow-up questions but did not indicate whether the university would change course. Western spokesperson Cheryl Roland says plans to develop Colony Farm are longstanding and do not contradict an agreement to preserve Asylum Lake.
