Southwestern University
EN-3: Student Life

The Coalition for Diversity and Social Justice- an umbrella organization to the registered cultural and social identity organizations at Southwestern University. The Coalition has grown from six organizations in 2011 to currently eleven organizations. This includes SEAK, RJA, SU NATIVE, and FJA

Students for Environmental Activism and Knowledge (SEAK) - active since 1999 winner of student group leader award, engages in a variety of environmental awareness programs and projects

Reproductive Justice Alliance (RJA) - to promote an understanding of reproductive justice on campus, which includes economic justice, the environment, immigrants’ rights, disability rights, discrimination based on race and sexual orientation, and a host of other community centered concerns.

SU NATIVE - SU NATIVE (Native Americans Teaching Indigenous Values Everywhere) works to raise awareness of Native American and indigenous teachings, values, and cultures to build a connection between the SU community and native issues in the Georgetown area.

Food Justice Alliance (FJS) - Works to offer education, resources, and recipes to support a more conscientious way of eating and buying food.

Garden Club - active since 2009, winner of student group leader award, keeps campus gardening and composting going, reaches out to community with gardening programs.

Human, Animal, Environment Team (HEAT) - active since 2016, focuses on positive activism and fundraising efforts for sustainable organizations locally and internationally.

There is a 1-2 acre area of campus that is a community garden and includes a greenhouse. Garden Club has outreach programs to the university and broader community that allow students to work in the garden, learning how to grow food, compost, and do restorative work in the area. The garden is completely organic, so students are able to learn about food systems that do not utilize industrial practices of harsh chemicals and monocropping.

Korouva Milk Bar is a student-run cafe on campus. The building hosts a variety of organizations for their meetings and holds events such as open-mic nights and movie nights. The mission statement of Korouva is: "To provide sustainably-made, ethically sourced beverages and unique social experiences to the campus community as well as valuable democratically owned-business experience to its employees."

In the academic year of 2019-2020, the Office of Sustainability established the Treasure Chest, a free store run on campus. The Treasure Chest stocks clothing, shoes, accessories, and household goods and promotes the normalization of second-hand usage, an important aspect of creating a sustainably-minded community.

Sustainable Advancements Funding Endeavor (SAFE) is available to students and faculty for grants centered on sustainable initiatives on campus. $15 of every student's tuition goes towards this fund, resulting in roughly $22,500 each semester available to be awarded to proposals.

The Brown Symposium is hosted by Southwestern University on a biennial basis. The symposia are designed to enhance the effectiveness of the work for which the endowed professorships were established. Each symposium presents topics in one of the broad areas of study represented by the chairholder. These symposia may cover sustainability, such as the most recent one in 2019 which discussed the sixth great extinction and the environmental impacts humanity has inflicted upon the environment. Previous sustainability-themed Brown Symposium occurred in 2012, 2008, and 1994.

The Georgetown Green Film Series was established to bring awareness to the environmental crisis through the visual arts by presenting films with an environmental focus. In addition to showing an environmental film, a panel of experts is invited to lead a proactive discussion with the audience about the topic at hand. Topics have included fast fashion (The True Cost), food waste (Wasted!), climate change (2040), and sustainable eating practices (The Game Changers).

Southwestern Intramural & Recreational Activities (SIRA)'s Outdoor Program offers a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities to the SU community.

First-Year Seminars (FYS) are half-semester courses offered to students in their first year at Southwestern - each students must complete an FYS (or AES as a transfer student) in order to graduate. FYS topics are chosen by semesters and are usually creative and unique courses that aren't seen in regular curriculum. The current FYS courses that include focuses on sustainability are Food, Health & the Environment; Wake Up! The Science, History, and Culture of Coffee; and Cancer, Covid, and Health: Fact and Fiction.

Various student-led organizations on campus host workshops and programs for students to learn sustainable life skills. The Office of Sustainability has published resources promoting sustainable life skills, such as a social media guide on how to make beeswax food wraps using raw materials to replace cling wrap or aluminum foil. Sustainability Ambassadors have also hosted a number of webinars promoting sustainable living.

The Office of Sustainability employs Sustainability Ambassadors during the academic year who focus on student outreach concerning sustainability and work on creating sustainable projects for Southwestern University to implement. The Office of Sustainability also employs interns who work on aiding data collection, event coordination, and social media outreach.