Debate: Does the Sustainability Movement Belong on Campus?

Ashley Thorne

This week at Bloomberg Businessweek's online forum The Debate Room, I and Paul Rowland of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) assess the place of the sustainability movement in higher education. 

Thesis: The campus sustainability movement subtracts from the better purposes of higher education. Pro or con?

I (pro) write, "Higher education at best pursues truth through disciplined application of evidence and reason. The sustainability movement undermines this mission by substituting activism for inquiry."

Paul Rowland (con) writes, "What better purpose for higher education than to ensure future generations have opportunities for living a healthy life in a healthy environment with a healthy socioeconomic system? Higher education in America has become a public good, not just a private, individual good." 

Click here to read the whole debate at Bloomberg Businessweek.com.

 

  • Share

Most Commented

September 6, 2024

1.

Professor Alleges "Widespread" Discriminatory Hiring Coverup at University of Washington

Audio acquired by the National Association of Scholars describes allegations of coverup race-based hiring coverup at the University of Washington...

October 29, 2024

2.

The Looming Irrelevance of Middle East Study Centers

Today’s Middle Eastern Studies Centers are facing a crisis due to the winds of change in the Middle East and their own ideological echo chamber....

September 25, 2024

3.

NAS Statement on University of Pennsylvania Sanction of Amy Wax

The National Association of Scholars is outraged—but not surprised—by Penn's decision to penalize Wax for exercising her academic freedom. ...

Most Read

May 15, 2015

1.

Where Did We Get the Idea That Only White People Can Be Racist?

A look at the double standard that has arisen regarding racism, illustrated recently by the reaction to a black professor's biased comments on Twitter....

October 12, 2010

2.

Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?

What does it mean to be Latino? Are only Latin American people Latino, or does the term apply to anyone whose language derived from Latin?...

September 21, 2010

3.

Ask a Scholar: What Does YHWH Elohim Mean?

A reader asks, "If Elohim refers to multiple 'gods,' then Yhwh Elohim really means Lord of Gods...the one of many, right?" A Hebrew expert answers....