University of Minnesota, Morris
EN-3: Student Life

The Morris MPIRG (Minnesota Public Interest Research Group) chapter has a Environmental Justice Task Force that focuses on helping students on-campus and off-campus live more sustainably, as well as working towards systemic change. Additionally, the Morris FoodlUMMs and the Morris Student Organic Gardening Club are working to bring more local, sustainable food to campus. The Morris Campus Student Association (MCSA) also appoints two sustainability representatives to advance sustainability on campus and within student government. The Morris ACS Chemistry Club works on sustainability-themed outreach and engagement with kids.

The campus has a 2.5 acre student-run organic garden. The Organic Gardening Club meets during the school year. In the fall, they harvest, weed, and prepare the garden for winter. During the winter, meetings are focused on planning the next year's garden. In the spring, the club prepares the garden for summer and begins planting. This is coupled with a program called, "Live to Garden," where students are offered housing on campus during the summer in exchange for work in the organic garden.

The Morris campus has dedicated an entire building to house a successful student-run recycling program. The campus recycles aluminum, tin, plastic, glass, and electronics waste as well as cardboard, glossy paper, office paper, and news printing. These recycling efforts create employment opportunities for students at the Morris campus.

Students initiated a Green Reinvestment Fund at Morris. Students, faculty and staff are able to initiate projects and utilize funds for sustainability-related projects. In 2015, funds from the GRF were used to support the purchase of a composting sifter, which will improve the composting process on-campus by removing forks, knives, etc (student-governed). Students may also access "Tech Fee" funds for improving campus sustainability infrastructure. This has included new watering equipment for the Student Organic Garden (student-governed).

Our campus constantly has events focusing on sustainability. Each year we have a large Earth Month celebration. One of the highlights of the week is the annual Fashion Trashion show, where students showcase their outfits made by hand out of recycled materials. Each year, the Morris Environmental Studies hosts a scholar-in-residence/speaker series on-campus. The invited scholar gives an invited talk related to sustainability to campus and community. Each year, the Morris Equity and Diversity office hosts an Elder-in-Residence program. An elder with an American Indian identity is hosted at Morris for several days and shares stories, wisdom and practices with the campus community. Morris hosts "Cafe Scientifique" for the students and the larger Morris-ares at local coffee shop to discuss sustainabilty- and science-related themes. In 2011, Morris hosted the Upper Midwest Association of Campus Sustainability conference (umacs.org). This was a significant investment of Morris staff and student involvement. A GLBT summit was held on campus with a particular focus on sustainability. In included tours of our green energy facilities and a keynote speaker, Winona LaDuke, who spoke on sustainability issues.

Morris is home to the Morrison Gallery. Each year, art installations that reflect the relationships between humans, the environment, and the societies they live in are featured.

Each year, our Geology club hosts a number of camping and hiking trips to different areas around the country. They are very conscious of any impact they might leave, always making sure to pack out everything they packed in. The Adventure Club holds numerous events for students to attend, for example camping, skiing, hiking, stargazing, canoeing, trips to the Pomme De Terre Park for bonfires, geocaching, and much more. Adventure Club is open to suggestions as to what people want to do. The goal of Adventure Club is to have fun outdoors while learning skills and Leave No Trace principles.

Morris has made sustainability an important campus theme. Our mission statement has a goal of preparing students to be environmental stewards. In addition, our tagline reads that we want to provide "A renewable, sustainable education" at Morris. We are highlighting sustainability prominently as an institution. Freshman must take an "Intellectual Community" course. Several IC courses integrate sustainability-themes into their courses. For example, Science Savvy in Our Modern World, encourages students to think about their relationship to the environment and covers topics like climate change, ozone hole depletion, chemicals in drinking water and offers them Green Tours.

Student living Green Prairie Living and Learning Community, and particularly, students involved with the Green Prairie Leadership Cohort collaborate with the the Office of Residential Life, Morris Healthy Eating, the Office of Sustainability, and the Minnesota GreenCorps to teach sustainable life skills, in particular, cooking skills.

The Office of Sustainability, Center for Small Towns, Office of Community Engagement, and Facilities Management are several offices that provide sustainability-focused employment opportunities. This includes work that explores: equity/diversity concerns, health eating, farmers market development, composting, community climate engagement, community water knowledge, regional lake health, community-based renewable energy, and more.

Morris Healthy Eating offers cooking classes for the community at the local high school. Morris students and member of the larger Morris-area community participate and share information about how to cook and favorite recipes.