Abstract
Since 2008, the researcher has advised a student-led initiative to promote sustainable living and learning on Southeastern Louisiana University’s campus. A service-learning activity, the students have initiated research activities that have driven the following years’ efforts to involve the university campus, other universities around the state, and the community at large in an Earth Day celebration. The researcher will present data derived from student projects each year the course has been taught and also will present best practices concerning involvement of administration and the student body in this valuable ongoing service-learning activity. Students rely on the ROPES (Hendrix in Public Relations Cases. Wadsworth, Belmont, CA, 1998; Kelly in Handbook of public relations. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 279–289, 2001) process for developing their campaigns and are assigned to develop Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics to support their efforts. Utilizing the systems theory (von Bertalanffy in Science 111:23–29, 1950), students view the system as the entire community—citizens, students, staff and faculty, experts and business. Students collaborate with each arm of the system to develop a plan and utilize the “Stewardship” branch of ROPES in order to maintain community relationships that have developed over the years between the university and its various publics and to engage the next years’ students who will take over the project and continue the service-learning activity. This paper will suggest a rubric by which instructors may devise a continuum of a single service-learning activity that may grow and develop over subsequent years to maintain a tradition of sustainability that expands outside of the classroom and engages the various audiences of the service-learning system. This paper will be of interest to those who wish to develop service-learning projects that continue over time rather than relying on one course to develop, implement and end the project. Through a systems lens, the researcher focuses on branding the activity, initiating research processes in the course, and managing the system after the course is complete.
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Acknowledgments
Special appreciation is expressed to graduate students Katlin Morse, Taylor Bergeron, Janel Page and Lori McAfee who allowed me to use their goals, objectives, strategies and tactics (GOSTs) as an appendix to this research.
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Appendix: Setting up a Plan of Communication
Appendix: Setting up a Plan of Communication
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Mission: Promote sustainability efforts in SLU Student Organizations
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Vision: Encourage all current and future student organizations at SLU to be actively involved in the sustainability movement.
Goal 1: Build a relationship between SLU athletics and the sustainability movement
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Objective: Include every athletic team in SLU sustainability movement
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Strategy: Incentivize student-athletes and coaches to participate
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Tactic: Incorporate a point/reward system for highest participation
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To-do: Survey student athletes on use of sustainability practices.
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To-do: Compose rules and regulations for the contest
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To-do: Send out email to coaches to inform of the contest
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Tactic: Host a kick-off event for all team members and coaches to explain contest
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To-do: Reserve time on football field
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To-do: Order pizza and drinks to serve
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To-do: Reserve DJ
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To-do: Promote event through Sports Marketing and Promotions Office.
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Strategy: Provide opportunities for all student-athletes to mingle while learning eco-friendly practices
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Tactic: Host “Go Green” slow-pitch softball game for student-athletes
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To-do: Choose date to host event
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To-do: Send emails to head coaches
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To-do: Reserve a field for game
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Tactic: Host a trash clean-up “party” for student-athletes around athletic facilities with picnic lunch afterwards
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To-do: Choose a date
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To-do: Email head coaches
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To-do: Put in request for gloves and other tools from Sustainability or SGA
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To-do: Arrange for the food
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To-do: Assign athletes to teams.
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Objective: Reduce waste in Athletics by 30 %
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Strategy: Increase eco-friendly practices for all athletic teams
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Tactic: Encourage teams to conserve water
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To-do: Wash jerseys in cold water
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To-do: Suggest that athletes shower at home instead of in the locker room
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Tactic: Encourage teams to conserve electricity
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To-do: Install energy efficient OR motion sensor light bulbs in facilities
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To-do: Avoid night practices that require lights to be in use
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Strategy: Reduce plastic waste produced by athletic teams
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Tactic: Promote the use of reusable water bottles
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To-do: Provide water bottles to each athlete
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To-do: Contact a vendor to purchase water bottles
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Tactic: Encourage any plastic that is used to be recycled
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To-do: Provide recycling bins at each athletic facility
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To-do: Contact coaches to promote recycling efforts
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Goal 2: Involve social student organizations (Greeks, BCM, Gamma, Beta, Phi) in SLU sustainability movement
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Objective: Have 50 % of waste from events and Homecoming activities be recycled.
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Strategy: Promote student organizations to participate in recycling efforts during socials and events
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Tactic: Implement that organization socials and events be more recycle friendly
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To-do: Provide recycle bins at all events and socials
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To-do: Contact organization heads to get them on board
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Tactic: Set a plan to recycle wood from homecoming floats
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To-do: Pass along idea to organizational presidents.
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To-do: Contact sustainability about taking the recycled Homecoming wood.
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To-do: Designate a spot for wood drop-off.
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Strategy: Promote student organization heads to endorse their recycling efforts
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Tactic: Require organization heads to carry out sustainable efforts and influence their organization to do the same
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To-do: Contact leaders to introduce the plan
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To-do: Provide recycling resources
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Tactic: Set up a plan to measure each organization’s recycling
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To-do: Make a point scale as reward system
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To-do: Provide the necessary resources for recycling efforts
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Objective: Reduce internal (office, meetings, etc.) waste by 50 %.
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Strategy: Increase the recycling efforts of student organization offices
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Tactic: Implement a recycling plan for each organization
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To-do: Set up recycling bins in each office
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To-do: Establish a collection plan for item pick-up
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Tactic: educate members on how recycling is good for the earth
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To-do: put together an educational power point
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To-do: posters and signage that promote recycling
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Strategy: Increase the recycling efforts in the student organization meetings
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Tactic: Implement the “Your Trash is Your Ticket” meetings, requiring members to bring a recyclable item to the meeting
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To-do: Set up a point system
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To-do: Set up recycling bin by the entrances
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Narro, A. (2015). Sustainability and Service-Learning: Creating a Rubric for Stewardship Across Courses. In: Leal Filho, W., Azeiteiro, U., Caeiro, S., Alves, F. (eds) Integrating Sustainability Thinking in Science and Engineering Curricula. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09474-8_28
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